Beyond The Madness
by Miss Delirium
Summary: Sequel to Falling Star. L's time is coming to a close, and he's been presented with the most shocking crime he's ever come across. Desperate to solve it, he enlists Ryusei and Morning as his main investigators... but Morning has her heart set on solving something else... AU. Rated for dark themes.
1. Bothered

**This is the sequel to Falling Star. I recommend you read that first =/ but it's not 100% necessary if you don't want to.**

**This includes my OC's Ryusei and Morning Madness. It is also going to be quite dark (probably darker than some of my old stuff). I've got 3 chapters written so far. Please forgive me for delays in updates, I'm rather busy but I'll update when I can.  
**

**Dislaimer - I do NOT own Death Note**

* * *

Morning hadn't really given it much thought before. Being amongst humans had provided her with something to do for centuries, watching the world go by and evolve into something semi-spectacular. Humans were funny creatures, entertaining in their own sentimental ways. Take Near for example. That white-haired recluse had certainly changed in a mere five years after Ryusei showed up, and that had even moved the crimson haired demon an alarming amount. She'd tried to deny it, but 'denial', as L had told her, is not just a river in Egypt.

...Five years...

The time had rolled by quickly, each new calendar replacing the old one at that same daunting time every year. And one thing she hadn't failed to notice... the little scribble she spotted on that same date on each and every calendar. It had always just been a number – declining with each passing year.

This time, however, it was just a star. A scribbled symbol that made that date stand out and flip her stomach upside down whenever she spotted it.

November 25th...

She sighed as she released the calendar and let the pages flip into place, creating a small draft that ruffled her hair gently. It was only January, but ten months... was that really all there was left?

She looked back at the desks in the office... empty save for one dark haired individual who was half-heartedly spinning on his chair as he nibbled a cake, holding the paperwork he'd been musing over in his free hand. He didn't appear to have noticed her examination of the dreaded calendar, but she wouldn't put it past him. The other members of the team had long since retired to their rooms, and Morning was considering heading that way also. Not that she often slept, but it was somewhere to go and try to clear the dark cobwebs in her mind. She turned to make her way towards the elevator.

"Calling it a day?"

She froze and sighed. "Everyone needs rest at some point. You should try it too."

L didn't answer, but she could feel his eyes burning into the back of her head. "I'll rest when I'm ready. You know that."  
She shook her head and sighed again, striking the button for the elevator. It seemed to take forever until the ping rang out and the doors slid open. Once she was inside, she felt suddenly separated from the office as it carried her up towards her floor.

Floor twenty...

She'd grown so used to this routine over the past nine years. She found herself wondering how much longer she would be returning to this floor...

She stepped out and made her way down the corridor to her room. She glanced to the door on the left... currently empty until L finally decided to retire to bed. She unlocked her own room and stepped inside, closing it slowly behind her until it clicked into place... She rarely closed the door unless she didn't want disturbing.

Still wearing her long black coat, she didn't feel the chill that spread throughout the room. The window was wide open and bats fluttered about inside, bar one who hung upside down from the curtain rail watching her as she dropped onto her bed.

Ten months...

She put her head in her hands and sighed once more. Why did it bother her? She'd known this was coming since the start... maybe she hadn't expected it to come so soon?

_ "Well surely you know the risks," Morning said, turning to look at him again. "You give everything up to come back, but that's it. Once you're times up, you wont go back up there, or to the Netherworld. You just-" She snuffed out the candle "-blink out of existence."_

_ The room seemed a lot darker now. L sighed._

_ "How long do you have left?" Morning asked._

_ "Five years."  
Morning snorted. "They only gave you ten? Wow that's stingy."_

The memory of that conversation had haunted her for the past few years. She'd had no idea prior to that... not a clue as to how little time the Celestial Beings had granted him to spend on Earth to track down Steele and arrest him. Ten years... it was such a small amount of time to a human... and even smaller for a Demon. But that couldn't be what was bothering her so much... time was irrelevant to her. She wasn't exactly immortal... she could still be killed if struck in the right places. No demon can survive without a head, or a heart for that matter. But time had never bothered her before. She would likely still be alive after the world finally ended, drifting through the cosmos for eternity with the rest of her kind. No... what seemed to be bothering her was more than that.

But what...?

A flutter of wings made her look up as Abraxas clung to her hand, watching her with his tiny black eyes. She cupped him in her hands and stared down at him, running a finger across his velvet fur.

She'd joined L's investigation team out of curiosity, that was a known fact to the both of them. He'd come back, and she wondered why. She'd followed his reckless antics avidly throughout his time as 'L', fascinated by the way he did things, by the fact he never failed. Then when he did fail... she was shocked and amazed.

It wasn't until he came back a year later that alarms went off in her mind. Most people assumed it was his successor who had taken up station in London, but she had a feeling. Being what she was, she knew it was possible for an angel to come back for a limited time if they gave everything up. She hadn't been wrong. Every single officer who worked for him thought he was his successor picking up the pieces from where the former L left off, working on an abandoned case with Light and some police officers from Japan – where L had failed. It had surprised her how small a team it was for such a huge building, but she never questioned things. It was clearly his own way of remaining hidden... a disguise. Maybe a vague hope his team would expand so he could wipe Steele out with ease. The team knew what they had been assembled for, but the handful of officers he had at his disposal were always working on other cases, and that's where she came in.

L never advertised for staff, so he'd been surprised when she showed up requesting a job. His team had been rather secret, hidden away in that large building which seemed to have come out of nowhere. The security was high, and she hadn't been able to get past reception without them calling one of the officers out to collect her. Despite his surprise, L had take her on and kept a close eye on her. She knew he didn't trust her, but after working under him for the first two years his watchdog attitude had almost come to a halt and she was given a lot more freedom and flexibility.

He was nothing like she expected – appearance or attitude. For starters, he was rather young for someone who had earned the title of 'World's Greatest Detective'. Then his crazy sweet tooth had alarmed her, but she'd grown used to that rather quickly. He was also not as reckless as she'd first thought, but that was probably down to his experience when he was alive. His reckless attitude had cost his entire investigation team including his previous successor, which had left him overprotective of Near. She'd not known about the young boy at all until the news got out and he finally trusted her enough to meet him. None of the other members of the team had met Near, which was a clear sign that she'd won L's trust indefinitely.

Yet he never figured out what she was...

Then Ryusei came along... And his scepticism on Shinigami had taken Morning by surprise. How could someone who'd experienced angels first hand and come back to Earth not believe in the occult? She'd not pressed him for information, and even now he didn't believe in them. Maybe it was the idea that a being could control fate – control life and death – that left him unbelieving of such creatures? _She_ knew they were real. She'd met one...

And now there were two if you counted Ryusei.

She sighed and lowered her hands to her lap, the tiny bat now crawling across her fingers sniffing for food.

"Something isn't right, Abraxas," She said.

The bat looked up at his name and fixed his eyes on hers.

Something _wasn't_ right. It bothered her how L seemed to be unfazed by his limited time left on Earth. It bothered her how he was counting down to it as though it was a much awaited event. It bothered her regards what she was expected to do after he'd left... would she stay? Would she go?

But what bothered her the most of all was that it _bothered_ her.

Why should she care? She knew humans would die, that not one of them would live as long as she did.

But he wasn't human, and she'd always known that... but she'd also known that one day he would go.

It bothered her that it was so soon...

"I guess..." She said to the bat, "There are still some things even I don't understand..."

* * *

**Intro to get the ball rolling. Please R&R!**


	2. The Heart Collector

**Sorry for the delay. I've had to ask someone to read through what I've written because I was unsure about uploading it. After being told it's a great idea, I felt an ego boost and decided to get Chapter 2 up (despite the fact I am only part way through Chapter 4 with a touch of writer's block).**

**I hope this chapter pleases, and I hope the plot pleases too considering it's a sequel and I don't often (if ever) write sequels to fanfics =/ but I shall persevere! Please read on and let me know what you think *cuddles L plushie*  
**

**Disclaimer - I do NOT own Death Note... I am NOT that awesome**

* * *

L was sat at his desk spreading out the newspaper clippings in front of him into some haphazard order, the newest articles loaded up on news web pages on his computer monitor. It was currently seven am, and none of the other members of the investigation team had come down from breakfast yet.

"Did you not go to bed?"

He barely moved at Morning's familiar voice, and instead continued to leaf through his information.

"I was busy," He said around a lollypop.

"Since last night?"  
He indicated the small stack of newspapers on his desk. "I had to go through these."  
Morning flicked through them. "These are dated today!"  
"Watari picked them up an hour ago," He explained. "I still need to cut out the relevant material."

"What about the hours between me departing and receiving these?"

L didn't have to look at her to know she had her arms folded and was giving him 'the look'.

"I spent those hours going over all this." He stuck one of the clippings to the monitor with a small piece of tape. "It took a fair bit of time."  
Morning pulled up a chair next to him and leafed through the chaos of small headlines and photos, interfering with L's chaotic organization.

"You've certainly done a lot. I take it you've tied all these incidents in together?"

"Yes."

L took one of the headlines back from her and placed it next to the one on the monitor where it stood out boldly reading 'The Heart Collector'.

"It's rather interesting. Out of all the recent murders, some have stood out more than others. Especially these two; both the victims have been found with the hearts cleanly removed and with an Ace of Hearts card placed on the chest."

Morning raised an eyebrow. "I'd read one of them last week, but didn't know there was another one."

"It happened yesterday. They believe this may be a new case of serial killings."

"But why take the heart?" Morning asked, leaning over to read the recent article loaded up on the screen. "Do they think it's some kind of trophy?"

"As a sign. This killer wants people to know it is them who's doing it. To replace it with an Ace of Hearts must be symbolic in some way."

"I think it goes deeper than that... if I was to poke a guess, I'd say the heart is a trophy and the card is a sign. Like taking the head of an animal once you killed it."

"It's a rather gruesome trophy if that's the case," L said, removing the lolly from his mouth and gazing thoughtfully into the distance. "I'd be more inclined to say it's a statement of some kind."

"Well I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of it sooner or later," Morning said as she sat back in her chair and flicked through more clippings. "You don't think any of these other crimes are related?"

"Petty fall outs and disputes," L said waving his hand dismissively. "These two are the only ones that interest me. I still need to flick through the other papers to see if there's any other relevant information but..." He replaced the lolly, "I doubt the media will have come to any conclusions."

"Any photos?" Morning asked as she flicked through the edited newspaper shots.

"I'm having some sent over. I've said I'll help with this case."

Morning nodded. "Going off these, there doesn't seem to be much... mess..."

"They are likely edited for media use. However, I get the feeling this individual is rather different."

"Well," Morning dropped them onto L's desk and stood up. "I think it's breakfast time so, are you coming?"  
L hesitated for a moment, glancing to the pile of untouched papers. Deciding breakfast was a good idea, and was an opportunity to let his mind wander freely, he leapt from his chair and followed the red haired demon to the elevator.

"It looks like we're going to be busy for a bit," He said as the doors closed behind them.

"It looks that way. I have to say I'm relieved. The past couple of years have been rather slow."

L glanced at her. There was a hint of mild disappointment in her voice, as though she was covering up some elaborate lie. She was currently leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, staring at the heavy metal doors. He turned his attention away just in time for the doors to open and let them out onto floor nineteen.

They walked to the cafeteria in silence, which unnerved him slightly. Morning had gone unusually quiet and he wondered if something was playing on her mind. He shrugged it off. He had bigger things to worry about right now.

The cafeteria was filled with its regular breakfast crew – the two Japanese police officers, Matsuda and Mogi, were sat at their usual table, across from Morning's favoured spot against the wall. L stacked his plate with pancakes and syrup and approached the two officers.

"Good morning L!" Matsuda beamed at him.

Mogi gave him a grunt of a greeting between bites.

"Good morning. I need to speak to the two of you downstairs after lunch. I was hoping Ryusei would be here..."

"She rarely comes up here any more," Matsuda sighed. "Our mornings have been getting quieter and quieter."  
L nodded. "Well... I'll contact her."

He turned away to join Morning, who had been watching him with intense curiosity. He'd really wanted to have the meeting as soon as possible. Ryusei not being there meant he'd have to send a phone call up to the Monitor Room when he got back to his desk. That would set him back a few minutes.

* * *

The entire team was gathered in the office, nattering at their desks as Watari rattled through with a tea trolley. It wasn't very often they were called to meeting and speculation was being voiced loudly from the small team, mainly between Ryusei and Matsuda. Near sat silently twirling his hair, listening to the two throwing ideas in the air while Mogi just nodded and grunted in agreement. The room was silenced as L rapped his fork on his desk for attention.

"You clearly all wonder what it is I have to tell you," L said as he unwrapped a cake. "I'm assuming you've all heard of the two unusual murders that have taken place this past couple of weeks. If not, I'm referring to the two bodies that were found with their hearts removed."

"Oh yes!" Matusda said. "They found an Ace of Hearts on both bodies!"

"Exactly," L said. "But please refrain from speaking until I ask you to."

Matsuda sank down in his chair.

"Basically, I've taken on this case and I would like you all to help me," L continued. "As such I've asked Aizawa to come back from Japan to assist us. He'll be bringing his colleague Ide, whom I've recruited to the team, and the pair of them will be arriving here this Friday – that's two days from now.

"I'm hoping we'll be able to get to the bottom of this case in a couple of months if we work together. The police are sending over some information including photos which I hope might show some clear clues. We are also to investigate the properties to look for clues the police may have overlooked. They said they couldn't find anything surrounding the first body, and the second isn't looking too good either. No fingerprints, no hair or other DNA samples... everything was meticulously cleaned up. The police are in a total stump."

He paused and looked from each of his colleagues. "Any questions so far?"

"Would it be silly to ask the cause of death?" Matsuda asked.

"They had their hearts removed," Morning snorted. "Cause of death is pretty obvious."

"Not necessarily," L said, silencing Morning with a wave of his hand. "They could have been murdered in several ways. There was no sign of assault with blunt objects, nor have they found any traces of drugs in the blood. They're assuming it was knife assault, but I think they may be wrong. That's what I want to find out."

"I'd leap to that conclusion too," Matsuda said. "But after working here for so long, I'm sceptical. Take Ryusei for example. She can kill with just her mind!" He grinned at the small woman. "If you weren't on our side, you'd be my first suspect!"  
"Hey!" Ryusei barked, leaping from her chair like a cat and landing on Matsuda.

"Near!" Matusda yelped. "Control your wife!"  
Near looked away from him. "You brought that one on yourself."

"Can we please be sensible?" L sighed. "We have a serious matter on our hands."

Ryusei returned to her seat and shot Matsuda a warning glance.

"Thank you. Now, I've picked out all the news clippings on these two crimes that I want you to look over. See if you can pick anything out – anything that might link the murders or point to what kind of person has performed them. I doubt you'll find anything especially significant, but it's worth a try." He handed a small wad of photocopies to Morning, who handed them around the office. "Any ideas are valuable right now and will be considered, so don't feel anxious to voice your opinions. I'll leave you to it for now."

He turned his attention to his computer and pulled another cake from the plate on his desk. This ended the meeting and conversation slowly started up again.

"Do you think they'll get anywhere?" Morning asked him.

"They can't do any worse than the police have so far," L replied. "Like I said, there's not much evidence, but it's worth trying to get a head start before we can poke around the crime scenes." He looked up at her. "Are you feeling up to that?"  
"Me? You want me to go to the crime scenes?"

L nodded. "Eventually. I was thinking you could take Ryusei with you."

"Why?"  
"Because she can see names." He popped the cake into his mouth. "She can also see if someone is human or not."

* * *

**So? How is it? Please R&R! It encourages me to update faster! (especially as I have a busy busy schedule until mid August!)  
**


	3. A Pair of Alices

**So sorry for the delayed updates. I decided to submit this as a bit of an apology. I prefer to keep myself well ahead so I can go back and edit, but I don't think I'll need to atm. I've been super busy lately, and have just got back off my holiday. I'm hoping the next couple of months will be a cooling period before the next burst of chaos... anyway, please read and enjoy =D**

**Disclaimer - I do NOT own Death Note or any of its characters!**

* * *

It had been a rather chaotic day in the office and when Morning finally retired to her room she was feeling mentally drained. No one had managed to pull any other clues from the newspapers and, as Near pointed out, the media did have a tendency to either sugarcoat things, or make them seem worse than they actually were. L had agreed, but thought it was a good idea to educate each of the team members on the matter and see what individual ideas and suggestions each one had. Needless to say, there had been many but most of them were focusing on why the killer had taken the hearts of their victims.

Morning opened the door to her balcony, letting Abraxas flutter inside as she strolled into the cool evening air. It was dark for seven pm, making it feel much later than it actually was. Snow was falling gently from the sky, powdering the streets below with a light winter frosting. Something felt strange and she couldn't put her finger on it.

Something was wrong...

Maybe it was just the daunting upcoming event playing on her mind, or the unusual timing of these bizarre murders. Maybe that was it. It was almost... too convenient.

L's time was almost up, and someone had decided to perform the most unusual killings she had ever heard of. What were they trying to accomplish?

She was letting her mind wander as bats dipped and dived across the balcony, chasing the moths that were attracted by the light from her room. She was deep in thought when a rap at her door caused her to jump back into reality, startling the bats around her.

"Who is it?"

The door slowly opened and L stepped inside, holding a laptop computer under one arm. He hopped onto her bed without looking up at her and flipped the laptop open.

"Look at this," He said.

She sat down next to him and peered at the screen. He had two personal files open in separate windows, both of them for two young girls – the girls who had been found dead.

"What about it?" She asked.

"Tell me what you think is odd?"

She took the computer from him and looked over the information.

Alice Parker – age 16, born 03/05/2001. Attended 'Ambrosia Boarding School and College'. Nationality – British. Date of death – 02/01/2018

Natasha Alicia Barton – age 22, born 12/08/1995. Waitress at Little Sicily. Nationality – British. Date of death – 09/01/2018

"Other than the fact the deaths are exactly one week apart, nothing screams out to me straight away," Morning said. "Both of them are female, both British, but the age gap is rather noticeable. They're both young, but one of them was still at school."

"Actually Alice Parker had just started College. But that's irrelevant. Look more carefully."

Morning sat back against the wall and glanced over the information again. Her heart did a little flip when she noticed the one similarity L had clearly noticed. It wasn't very obvious, but...

"It's the names."  
"Correct. What have you noticed?"

"Alice... Alicia..." Morning looked at him. "They're almost similar. Do you think that's relevant?"

"At the moment, anything is relevant."  
"It could just be a coincidence though," Morning said, handing the laptop back. "This could still be random."

"It could, but I'm linking things together and it works too perfectly." L nibbled his thumbnail as he stared into the distance. "Yes, the names aren't by any means identical. Alicia is the middle name of the second victim... however... what about the playing cards?"  
"You're thinking about this too much." Morning stood up and went to the window, stepping out onto the balcony. "The Ace of Hearts was clearly a sign; the killer had taken the heart and replaced it with a playing card. I don't think it's linked to the names."

"It might be."

Morning laughed. "You're thinking this is linked to some children's story aren't you?"

"It's too early to tell. But maybe." L hopped off the bed and began pacing the room. "It seems the killer so far is leaving clues that link to Alice in Wonderland."  
"That's very far-fetched," Morning said.

"Not necessarily." L paused and put his hands in his pockets, staring at a blank spot on the wall above the bed. "Alice. The Queen of Hearts. It makes sense. I feel that the next victim may also be an 'Alice' or some other form of the name."

"I guess we have no choice but to wait and find out?"

L nodded. "Yes, that may be the case."

"Or prevent it?" Morning suggested, looking round at him.

"That would be too difficult. Alice is too common a name. Not to mention all the other variants – Alicia, Alisiya, Aliisa, Alis... to name a few. Then there's the fact it doesn't matter where in the name 'Alice' falls – first, second... we can assume last and barrel names. It would be too hard to monitor each and every potential victim."

"So," Morning sighed. "If we go off the previous two victims, the next one will be in six days."

L nodded. "Next Tuesday."

"That's a good while to wait." Morning stepped back inside and sat down on the bed with a loud sigh. "I hate waiting games."

"It's the only way to find out if my theory is correct." L joined her and picked up his laptop. "I intend to solve this case as soon as possible, and I already feel I am on the right track." He paused. "I would actually like to prevent the next murder; however, the possibility of doing so is below one percent. I am almost certain there will be another, and, when there is, then hopefully we will be much closer to catching the culprit."

"I hope you're right." It wasn't so much a general statement of encouragement, but rather a hope that went deeper than that. L hadn't seemed to notice, but she certainly had. Her normal enjoyment of chaos would have caused her to want to see this crime play out a little longer to see how the criminal's mind was working, but this time... she just wanted them caught and locked away for good. She shook her head. She'd clearly been around humans too long.

* * *

L had once again summoned the entire team to the office for an emergency meeting. Everyone gathered around his desk waiting for him to explain the situation. Their answer came in the form of a folder, which was deposited on his desk.

"The case files arrived today. I performed some research last night with Morning's help and we may have discovered a pattern."

"What kind of pattern?" Matsuda asked.

"Both victim's names are similar – Alice Parker and Natasha Alicia Barton. Both contain variants of the name 'Alice'. Link this in with the Ace of Hearts card, we get a crude reference to Alice in Wonderland."

"Wow." Matsuda scratched his head. "That's a headache right there."

"I still think you're looking into this too deeply," Morning told him.

"I have to agree," Matsuda said. "If anything, that seems too..." He paused.

"Obvious," Near cut in.

"It does seem amazingly obvious," L agreed. "But to see if my theory is correct we may have to wait a while to see if any other clues come up. Both deaths were exactly one week apart, which means next Tuesday – the sixteenth – will undoubtedly be the next date unless both of the previous ones were a coincidence. Which I doubt."

"It seems a bit extreme to wait for another death," Ryusei piped up.

L looked at her. It wasn't a surprise that she should feel that way. She did spend over a month being forced to kill innocent people, however...

"I agree," He sighed. "But in these circumstances there is no possible way to prevent the next killings without knowing where exactly they will take place. We will have to track the killer by collecting the evidence left by their tracks. If we apply ourselves we will catch them."

"The question I have though is why they would leave such obvious clues," Matsuda said. "If we've linked the two murders together in such a way, then do they want us to link them like that? I mean, what are they trying to prove?"  
"They could be trying to throw us off the trail," Near said, twirling his hair.

"Could you elaborate?" Matsuda asked him.

"Well they could be leaving obvious clues to cover up the less obvious ones; those being the clues that would lead us straight to the killer."

"Or they're hiding a message," Ryusei suggested.

Morning and L looked up at the young woman.

"I think she has a point," Morning said, turning her attention to L.

"That could be the case," L said. "I have to admit, it crossed my mind. Which is why I want the two of you to explore the crime scenes. However," He flipped open the folder. "That isn't the main reason I have gathered you here. What I really wanted to show you is this."

He placed the photos from the crime scenes on the table. There was a pause as the information sank in. The team let out audible gasps.

"So the photos in the newspapers weren't exactly edited," Morning said as she picked up one of the photos.

"No," L replied. "It seems the killer didn't just take the hearts. They also completely drained the bodies of their blood."

* * *

**Ah the plot thickens... I'm in the middle of a house move and left all my notes in storage cos I'm silly like that. I wont be able to get them back until later this week =/ hopefully I can get some writing done from memory lol. Anyway, I kinda thought it would be very L-esque for him to figure stuff out this quickly. But is he right? =O please R&R!**


	4. It Starts

**These chapters are shorter than I'd like, but I'm getting there. Gah I spent seven hours today working on chapters five and six. Seven hours! They'll obviously be following later. I am also glad to have my notes back, not that they've proved to be much use as of yet. The story has altered in my mind and I need to rejig some things, but don't worry! It's still coming thick and fast... as fast as I can considering I'm still relatively busy. So... many... weddings!**

**Well, rather than reading my drabble why don't we move on to the story? That's why you're here, right?**

**Disclaimer - I do NOT own Death Note!**

* * *

"So we're dealing with a vampire?" Matsuda gasped.

Morning shot him a look.

"No," L said, plucking a doughnut from his plate. "I'm not one hundred percent sure why the killer is draining the bodies of the blood. What I am certain about is that this information was kept from the media. Not one newspaper commented on it. All they would say was that the crime scenes were incredibly clean."

"Do you have any ideas why they might perform such an act?" Morning asked as she examined the photos.

L stared thoughtfully into the distance. "One theory is to mask the method they used to kill."

"How would that work?" Matsuda asked.

"Well, if the blood is drained, it won't clot, leaving the police baffled as to how exactly the victims were killed."

Matsuda raised an eyebrow. "Kind of like we are now."

"Exactly."

"How they performed this is beyond me," Morning said, handing the photos back. "To go to those extremes just to cover the evidence is rather unbelievable."

"It is, rather, but it seems the most likely." L unwrapped another cake.

"I wonder if we're dealing with another Elizabeth Bathory," Morning said. "That's the only explanation I can think of for draining blood."

"Or a vampire," Matsuda said. He glanced at the looks he received form the other members of the task force. "What? We can work alongside angels and demons but we don't have killer vampires?"

L stood up and began pacing. "Under the circumstances, I'm not ruling that theory out. It is possible. However, on the scale of possibility it only comes in at around four or five percent. The highest possibility is that they are trying to cover up their tracks, or trying to confuse us for their own perverse entertainment. It is also highly possible they are trying to act out Elizabeth Bathory's acts."

"Who's Elizabeth Bathory?" Ryusei asked.

L looked at her. "She was an aristocrat who believed bathing in the blood of virgins would grant her eternal youth. As such she became a prolific serial killer, accused of torturing and killing hundreds of young girls."

Ryusei grimaced. "I wish I hadn't asked."

"No, it is worth knowing." L hopped back into his chair and rested his hands on his knees. "History has a habit of repeating itself, and if we are dealing with someone who's obsessed with Elizabeth Bathory, then we'd need to know what signs to look for. But I don't think that's the case. Going off the evidence so far, this individual seems to be providing a puzzle which I would really like to solve. Preferably as soon as possible before any more lives are lost."

"Is there any more information?" Morning asked. "For example, any traces of drugs in the body, or signs of abuse?"

"There were no signs of abuse," L said simply. "And finding drug traces is proving difficult with no blood in the body."

Morning nodded. "I worried that might be the case."

L looked up at her. "I would like you and Ryusei to attend the crime scenes as soon as possible to see what you can find."

Ryusei stared wide-eyed at him. "Do I have a choice in this?"  
"No. You are one of our best candidates in finding out if this is acted out by a human."  
"That means..."

"Yes. I am hoping you'll come face to face with the criminal, which is why I am sending you with Morning."

"A personal demon bodyguard," Matsuda said. "You don't get better than that!"  
Morning groaned and sat down. "You said you wanted us to find evidence, not run into a trap."

"There is no trap yet. If we can pinpoint an obvious pattern, then we'll lure the killer into a trap and we can identify and catch them."  
"It sounds dangerous," Ryusei said meekly.

Near placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It is dangerous," L admitted, "But sometimes risks are necessary."  
Morning looked over to the detective. He was sat chewing his thumbnail lost deep in thought. This was the kind of reckless behaviour she had once associated with him, but there was no clear direction with his plan. She glanced the calendar out of the corner of her eye. With limited time left, his actions showed he was clearly feeling under pressure.

* * *

Morning stood in the middle of the living room of the small student flat where Alice Parker had been staying. She wasn't feeling very on-form. Her mind was a swirling field of confusion, and to her the room was just that – a room. An unnocupied room where a body had been found. The body was no longer here, however, and as Ryusei stood in front of her glancing around and sucking on her sleeve Morning was being about as useful as a lone sock.

"You said we were looking for clues."

Ryusei's voice snapped the demon out of her aimless daydream and she fixed her violet eyes on the small girl.

"Yes... but I didn't say we would find any."

"We haven't started looking yet." Ryusei removed her sleeve from her mouth and glanced around the room again. "I've never done this before. Where do we start?"

Morning shrugged. "I've no idea. We just sort of... dig around and see what we can find."  
"Alright."

Ryusei dropped to her knees and started digging carefully through the desk drawers, pulling out various paperwork and notebooks. Morning turned her back on the girl's organised mess and looked around the room. It was relatively normal. A chest of drawers stood against the far wall next to a wardrobe. Opposite those was a single bed and, beneath the window where Ryusei was rummaging, was the desk. The desk chair had its back to the lone door. That was all the room had to offer. It wasn't en-suite, despite being a prestigious boarding school. From the little knowledge she had, she knew the entire dorm had a shared bathroom.

"Look at this."

Morning snapped her attention back to Ryusei. The girl was hunched over a piece of paper, adopting Near's mildly irritating hair twirling.

"What is it?" The demon leant over her shoulder. In Ryusei's hands was a picture printed out onto cheap paper of the girl – Alice – with a couple of her friends wearing fancy ball gowns.

"It looks like Alice was made Prom Queen at her Graduation Dance."

Morning snorted. "I strongly doubt that would have made her a target."

"Well I think we'll take it any way." Ryusei stuffed the paper into her bag and continued her rummaging. "It might still class as evidence, who knows?"

Morning nodded and sat down heavily on the bed with a sigh. The thought of this whole ordeal being hopeless shot through her mind fleetingly the moment the matress met the frame of the bed.

Her eyes widened and she stood up quickly, wrenching the matress up in one fluid motion. A door...

"It's hollow."

Ryusei looked up at her.

"There's a storage compartment inside here." Morning opened the door in the bed with her free hand to reveal a couple of boxes. "Well that didn't reveal much."

Ryusei joined her and peered inside. "She was just using it as storage space."

Morning sighed and began to lower the hatch back down, but was stopped as Ryusei climbed inside.

"What are you doing?" The demon gasped. "You'll get stuck!"

"There's plenty of space," The girl protested, pushing a box aside to crouch down.

She wriggled across the dusty carpet, vanishing further inside the bed. Morning had to resist the temptation to lower the mattress and leave her there. She reappeared quickly, clutching another piece of paper.

"Another photo of the Prom Queen?" Morning asked.

"Nope." Ryusei clambered out of the bed and stood up, dusting down her dress. "A birth certificate."

"Just scattered down there inside the bed?" Morning raised an eyebrow. "Students really are careless."

"That's why I took it," Ryusei said, stuffing the certificate into her bag. "I thought it was odd how it was cast aside like that."  
"Well, I think we've seen enough." Morning released the mattress, letting it fall back into place. Then, stuffing her hands into her coat pockets, she made for the door. "If anything were more obvious, forensics would have found it."

She closed the door behind them, not giving the room a second glance. Her mind reeled with chaos once more. The whole ordeal felt like a waste of valuable time. She just wanted to get to the end of this case as soon as possible.

* * *

L looked up as the elevator pinged, releasing Morning and Ryusei back into the office.

"That was quick."

"There wasn't much to find," Morning told him.

"But did you find anything?"

Ryusei plopped her bag onto his desk and pulled out the picture and the birth certificate. L took them and gave them a once over.

"Where did you find these?"

"The photo was in her desk drawer, the birth certificate was under her bed."

"She seems to think they're significant," Morning told him. "I'm not so sure."  
"She was a Prom Queen," L said, staring at the photo. "As for the birth certificate... was it in an obvious place?"

"It probably fell out of a box," Morning sighed. "Ryusei found it under her bed."  
"I thought it might be classed as evidence," Ryusei said, a hint of sadness in her voice. "Was I wrong?"

"Right now, anything is evidence," L told her. "I'll examine these and see what I can put together."

Morning shrugged. "Fair enough. Any ideas so far?"

"Prom Queen..." He nibbled his thumb nail thoughtfully as he stared blankly at the wall. "I'm not sure how that is significant at the moment without leaping to blind conclusions but it may well be."

Morning snorted. "Targetting a Prom Queen? I strongly doubt the killer would have had some jealous motive over that!"

"It's too early to rule that out right now," L said flatly. "Ryusei, if you see anything unusual like this at the next crime scene, do bring it to me."

* * *

Midnight.

Looking up at the ICPO from his crouched position across the street, Beyond let out a maniacal laugh.

"Twinkle twinkle little bat... how I wonder where you're at?" He licked strawberry jam off his fingers, his eyes fixed on one window in particular, twenty floors up. "It starts!"

* * *

**Beyond! *mini-spaz* one of the fun characters to write! XD But difficult... soooo difficult! Anyway, please R&R! It's getting exciting now =3**


	5. Wrong

**I've uploaded this a little sooner than I would have liked, but I don't think I'll need to change anything. At least I hope I don't! Anyway, I was torn between writing and playing Skylanders, but I sat in the same room as an annoying house fly (which eluded my every attempt to swat the blasted thing) just to write another hefty chunk. I like to make sure I have more chapters written than I have submitted. That way I can make sure the story flows.**

**The pace of this one is slower than Falling Star and I'm sorry about that (unless you like slow progress) but things get faster from the next chapter =P so in the meantime, please read on!**

**Disclaimer - I do NOT own Death Note!**

* * *

Darkness flooded the old warehouse making it difficult for her to see. She took a few steps forward and stumbled as her foot hit something firm which flopped lifelessly onto its back.

A body.

"Ryusei!"

The voice was female; familiar. She froze, her heart racing. A light was flickering just ahead of her. Someone rounded the corner. She panicked. Before she could even see who it was, the numbers above their head span down to zero and they collapsed to the floor, motionless.

She took a wary step forward, skirting the bodies that lay around her. The light illuminated the body just enough for her to let out a yell.

Ryusei sat bolt upright, sending the covers flying. Her breath was coming in quick bursts as panic flooded her body. She barely noticed the arm that wrapped around her shoulders.

"Those nightmares again?"  
The familiar voice washed over her, and she felt her heart slow down as she managed to catch her breath. She looked over at Near who was watching her with a look of concern. She snuggled into his warm body and felt his arms wrap gently around her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He ran his hand over her hair.

"It was just the same as last time," She mumbled into his pyjama top. "I was in that building again... and it ended with me killing my mother."

He didn't reply. He just continued stroking her hair as she slowly calmed down. There wasn't much he could say really. Her mother had been dead for years, and she was responsible for it. She hadn't meant for it to happen, hadn't even been aware she had done it for a while.

"Are you feeling guilty?"  
She leant back from Near and looked at him. He'd removed one arm from around her to twirl his hair thoughtfully.

"I don't think so," She replied. "I mean, I do feel guilty of course but... these nightmares have only been happening for a year now."  
"Seventeen months," Near corrected her. "And each time you have one you wake up having a panic attack."

Ryusei sighed. Trust Near to remember the exact length of time. He was right, she did wake up in a panic, but it wasn't every night. She probably had these nightmares at most six or seven times a month.

"You should see someone about them," Near said, causing her to look up at him. "It's very likely psychological, and it might help."

Ryusei shook her head. "I'm okay, I don't need to see a shrink."  
"Ryu-Chan, you're scared to go to sleep."

"I'll be fine." She lay back down again and closed her eyes.

It wasn't long until Near joined her and she snuggled into him, feigning sleep when he said her name. He was right. She was scared to sleep, and she fought it off until sunlight leaked through the curtain signalling morning.

* * *

Ryusei was slowly pacing around the bedroom of the small house. It was the room that had once been occupied by Natasha Alicia Barton and it was incredibly tidy, everything in what they could assume was 'its place'. It had been vacated since the murder so it was only the girl and Morning in the room. Morning watched her co-worker as she moved mindlessly around, her eyes unfocusing repeatedly as her mind drifted elsewhere.

The demon raised an eyebrow.

"You're not on form."

Ryusei's eyes snapped to Morning and widened. "Oh... sorry!"

Morning shook her crimson head and moved past the girl to inspect a drawer she'd left open. She rifled through the mishmash of clothes and finding nothing of interest, slammed it shut.

"This is pointless."

Ryusei sighed. "And you say I'm not on form? You're being negative."

The demon looked at the girl and, noticing not for the first time the rings under her eyes, motioned for her to sit down.

"Get some rest, you're clearly tired." She turned her back on her as she moved over to a set of book shelves. "Didn't you sleep or something?"

Ryusei yawned and slumped onto the bed. "I just had a bad night."  
Morning grunted. "_Bad_ night? Is the honeymoon period over?"

She heard Ryusei huff in response. "I just don't sleep well sometimes."

"We all get like that." Morning moved a few books around, blindly hoping for some kind of secret passageway. "The trick is to not focus on it when it happens. The more you think about not sleeping, the more it eludes you."

"I thought you didn't need to sleep?"

"Normally I don't. But everything needs to rest at some point. Aha!" Morning whisked a book off the shelf and examined the cover. "A diary." She flipped it open. "Empty."  
Ryusei appeared at her side and tapped the cover. "It's also last year's."  
Morning grumbled and stuffed it back on the shelf. "Seriously, what does L expect us to find that forensics haven't already?"

"Well he told us to rule out DNA," Ryusei said, inspecting a shelf filled with ornaments and various nicknacks.

"What criminal is immaculately clean like that?" Morning growled. She leant back on the wall and flicked through a blank notebook. "Also, who keeps blank notebooks?"

"A chess champion."  
Morning looked up at Ryusei. She was holding up a large trophy the shape of a Rook chess piece.

"You're kidding me?" Morning groaned. "A Prom Queen, now a Chess Champion?" She dropped the notebook and scooted over to the shelf. "How many trophies does she have?"

"Loads."

The shelf was indeed full of trophies.

"How did we overlook this?" Morning gasped.

"Easy. We weren't looking for it." Ryusei reached into the shelf beyond the trophies and pulled out a piece of paper. She unfolded it. "I was expecting it to be a chess certificate but..."

Morning snatched it from her. "A Birth Certificate."

"Okay, now I'm getting suspicious," Ryusei said blankly.

"The first one was under a bed. That makes no sense at all but this was next to the trophies..."

"You think the killer left it there as a clue?"

"I really don't know," Morning said, handing it back to the girl. "Let's take it back to L. I'd take a trophy as well just in case he has a sulk if we fail to collect one as proof."

Ryusei obeyed, stuffing the certificate and one of the smaller trophies into her bag. She followed Morning as she moved swiftly from the room making a beeline for the exit and almost getting trapped in the door. The demon mumbled an apology and headed to the car. Prom Queen... Chess Champion... L was going to have a field day with this. It was certainly the strangest case yet, but her mind was elsewhere. She just wasn't sure where. Or why.

* * *

L had been wrong. He hated that. Getting things wrong left an awful taste in his mouth. He stared at the newspaper headline, Matsuda sat opposite him with his eyes getting wider and wider as he witnessed the vast amount of chocolate sauce the detective was emptying over a bowl of melon and strawberries.

'The Heart Collector Strikes Again'

What bothered him the most was that he hadn't just been wrong about the timing.

'Archie Chest from Broom Street, London, age fourty five was found dead in his appartment this morning with his heart missing. An ace of hearts was placed on his chest and the room left in an immaculate, clean state. Police are baffled over this chain of killings.'

The article went on into the opinion of neighbours, scepticisms and speculations, false accusations and moving sentiments. All L was interested in was the name. It wasn't a variation of 'Alice'.

L barely noticed as Morning and Ryusei arrived at his desk. He glanced at the demon and handed her the article as Ryusei plonked her findings in front of him.

"This is going to be harder than I thought," He said, licking chocolate sauce off his fingers.

Morning scowled at the newspaper. "So you were wrong about the name."

"But the method remains the same," The detective said, scooping the sticky contents of his bowl into his mouth. "So you found another Birth Certificate and a chess trophy?"

Ryusei nodded, stifling a yawn. "She was a Chess Champion."

"Interesting." He picked up the Rook-shaped trophy between his thumb and forfinger and admired it under the bright light of the office. "A Prom Queen and a Chess Champion."

Morning lowered the newspaper slightly to fix her violet eyes on the young detective. "You're lacing this together with your crazy 'Wonderland' delusion aren't you?"

"Not quite," L sighed, lowering the trophy. "If the new victim was an 'Alice', it would make sense, but not under these circumstances. Though it would be interesting to see if you could find another Birth Certificate at the scene. Where was this one?"

"Tucked in with the trophies," Morning said, turning her attention back to the paper as she flopped into the chair at her desk. "It seems Ryusei has a knack for finding them."

"Well, when the police are done poking around the scene, could I ask you two to go back and investigate further?"  
Morning grunted. L took it as a yes.

He scooped another spoonful of chocolate and fruit into his mouth and looked over at Ryusei. The girl was nodding off in her chair.

"The two of you really aren't on form. Ryusei, go take a nap."  
The girl opened her eyes and nodded, standing up and moving from the office to the elevator.

L turned his attention to Morning. "As for you ..."

"I need a drink," Morning said, finishing his sentence for him. She stood up and followed Ryusei to the elevator.

"I think you're pushing them too hard."

L looked up at Matsuda who was currently reading a magazine. The young officer cowered back from L's silence and turned his chair away.

* * *

**L has strange eating habits...**

**Right, I am off to see if the television is free for my trip into Skylands! Please R&R, then I'll come back =D**


	6. Challenge Accepted

**I'm sorry for making you wait. I've not been too well =( however, I've finally got round to motivating myself to write more and update. I've been wanting to post this chapter for what feels like an eternity! So rather than put up with me waffling, please read on!**

**Disclaimer - I do NOT own Death Note!**

* * *

The smell of alcohol hung thickly in the air inside The Crouching Duck. Morning sat huddled in the corner of the pub with an empty pint glass in front of her and a half empty one in her hand. The chaos was still reeling and spinning in her mind as she stared blankly at the far wall. Her tolerance to the foul liquid had taken a hit since she'd stopped frequenting this place after joining the ICPO and she just knew if she finished this glass the room would start to spin with it. It wasn't helping matters. She still couldn't organise the thoughts that tumbled through her mind.

A clink made her look up. Another full glass had appeared in front of her and filling the blank spot she'd been fixated with was the familiar grinning face of Kayas.

"Fancy seein' you 'ere!" He said, grinning even wider and emphasising the crow's feet at the corners of his eyes.

Morning sipped her drink, diverting her attention to the soggy beermat.

"Well, I needed the break."

"Work givin' ya the blues?"

The demon shrugged and leant back against the wall. She eyed the unshaven middle-aged man, dressed in a dark brown coat and a wide brimmed hat. He looked like one of those shady characters who sat in the corners of bars and sold knock-off watches. Morning knew him well enough to know he wasn't exactly harmless, but an old friend none-the-less.

"You haven't changed a bit," She said over her glass.

"Yer wrong," He said. "I managed t' buy a big car thanks t' that reward money I got from assistin' ya on that case."

Morning rolled her eyes. "Well at least you're happy."

"More 'n happy!" He folded his arms behind his head and fixed his pale eyes on her. "I don't think I've seen ya since. You certainly looked happier then. Not enough action goin' for ya?"

She begrudgingly took a swig of her drink, wishing deeply that the man would just vanish and leave her to her chaotic thoughts. "I wouldn't say that."

"Well I'm not one t' pry, but if ya need any help from old Kayas, you just give me the word." He winked and took a swig of his beer.

Morning didn't respond. She just took another swig of her drink, waiting for the bitter contents to paralyse her thoughts enough to stop them spinning. The pair of them sat in uncomfortable silence for a while, uncomfortable for her anyway, until she had drained the contents of her second glass and was almost at the end of her third.

"Easy lass, it aint pop."

She looked up at Kayas who was still pacing through his first drink. He wore a bemused yet mildly concerned expression and she found herself lowering her glass to the table and sitting back against the wall, shame joining in with the racing emotions in her mind.

"Something's clearly got yer goat," Kayas said, placing his glass noisily onto the table. "I don' think I've ever seen ya like this before. You seem almost... human!"

Morning grunted at his remark, diverting her attention to a pair of shaven men at the bar. Typical Crouching Duck regulars.

"Yer normally enjoyin' causin' pain or gettin' angry wi' folk. What's the problem, Dark?"

Dark... she turned her attention back to the grey-haired man, her expression causing him to reel back in his chair slightly. Despite knowing her current alias, he still called her by her old one. Some kind of affectionate pet-name, maybe?

He grinned. "That's more like it."

Morning could feel a small smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth and she folded her arms as she leant back, fixing her violet eyes on her old friend.

"So what is it?" He asked. "Cos yer drinkin' like yer've got some unwanted memory ya want t' delete. Though... in your line o' work I wouldn't be surprised if that were th' case. I dunno what I'd do if I came across one o' them bodies they bin findin' with the hearts ripped out. But I can tell yer one thing, brain damage aint the answer there!"

"It's not like that, Kayas," Morning said, swirling the remaining contents of her drink around the glass. She stared into the golden liquid, her previous smirk slowly vanishing.

"Well whatever it is, I can ask ya this. How many answers has man found at the bottom of a pint glass?"

She paused, letting the liquid come to a still.

A still.

She let go of the glass and stood up slowly.

"Is it somethin' I said?"

She looked down at Kayas and gave him a half smile.

"Yes."

He raised an eyebrow.

"You made sense. Oddly." She tugged the collar of her coat up and left the pub, the chill of the January air washing over her and causing the affects of the alcohol to accelerate.

The ground felt somewhat unsteady as she made her way back to the ICPO and an odd darkness seemed to be hovering over the city of London. Maybe it was just the lingering conciousness of the inhabitants living in fear of the new chain of cereal killings, or the accursed fact that her mind had traced the swirling thoughts back to that damn calendar.

That ominous object that adorned the office wall.

That paper countdown to the dreaded event of November 25th.

The date that haunted her... and she still didn't know why. She was a stranger to most human emotions. What was this? She was pretty sure it wasn't grief. She'd seen grief. She'd caused grief.

Whatever it was, she wanted it to go. But it was currently warring with the foul bile that was racing up her throat from her stomach. As she emptied most of the alcohol she'd drank into the gutter, she became aware of someone moving behind her. She wiped her mouth and looked over her shoulder. Nothing. She cast a glance from side to side, her nerves as calm as ever. Still nothing. Keeping her wits about her, she covered the short distance back to headquarters now feeling considerably less dizzy and a fair bit more sober.

The sliding doors opened and she stepped into the elevator. That dark feeling had followed her; was it just a figment of her imagination? When she exited onto the office floor, she found L still sat at his desk leafing through the case files.

"Still up?"

She didn't get an answer. She approached him, her hands in her pockets. The dark feeling intensified. Something wasn't right.

The man in the chair looked up at her and gave her a cruel grin.

"Beyond?" She took a step back. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you that same question, Little Bat."

Morning bristled. Did he just call her 'Little Bat'?

He lauged and kicked out at the desk, causing the chair to spin wildly. Morning grabbed it, bringing the chair to a halt and spinning its occupant to face her.

"You answer my question, brat."

Beyond grinned again. "I've come to collect something that belongs to me."  
She glanced at the case files out of the corner of her eye. He couldn't be serious?

"No, not those," He said. He pointed and she followed his finger to the calendar on the wall. "It's not ready yet."

Morning felt a chill run across the length of her spine and she stood back, releasing the chair and allowing the mad man to leap from it in one smooth motion and walk towards her, causing her to step back until she met the wall. He plucked the calender from its hook and flicked through it.

"What do you want with him?" She asked, her voice cracking slightly.

"Hmm... entertainment?" Beyond answered, not looking up from the calender.

"Well, you'll be disappointed. It's short lived."

Beyond let out a laugh that sent another chill up her spine. He fixed his wild, dark eyes on hers.

"That's where you're wrong."

Morning opened her mouth to question him, but words failed on her tongue. Instead, she stood there reminiscent of a fish. Amusement filled the mad man's eyes and he turned his attention back to the calender and smiled broadly, a weird purr escaping from him.

"You're forgetting, Little Bat, that anything which his broken can be fixed if you have the right tools."

"You're planning to save him?" Morning asked. The look she got was enough to give her a mental slap.

"Oh, you can fix things but they won't work the same." He grinned again.

"You're not making any sense."

He let out another chilling laugh. "I'm going to damn him."  
She felt her blood turn to ice. "What?"

"You know, damn him." Beyond turned to a chair and hopped into it, landing in a squat and still holding on to the calender. "If I wait a few months, and time it right, it should work nicely."

"You know the Celestial Beings have put a time limit on his existance, don't you?" Morning hoped deep down he didn't know this, but the smile he gave her shattered all trace of hope she had.

"Of course. That's what makes him more intriguing."

"What I'm trying to say is, you can't just damn someone who's already fated to vanish."

Beyond tutted softly, shaking his head. "So naïve, Little Bat. You see, I clearly know something you do not."

"Which is?"

"You can break a curse with another curse."

She blinked, staring at the grinning lunatic. He wasn't serious? It couldn't be that easy?

"I'd never thought of it as a curse."

Beyond grinned. "Of course it's a curse. The Celestians think of it as a blessing, but it hardly is. My little curse will last so much longer. Of course... he might experience a little pain." That wicked grin again.  
Morning felt herself bristle at his words. She clenched her fists. "So you are saying you can overrule what the Celestial Beings have already done? You have that authority?"

"Oh, it's not a matter of authority," Beyond said with a smile, chewing on his thumbnail. The similarity to L caused her heart to do a nauseating flip. "It's a matter of logic. No matter how many times you replace the contents of a jar, you've still got the same jar but with different contents. The same goes for curses. You have the same vessel, just with a different curse."

Morning's heart was racing. Fear? Excitement? Her emotions were warring. Beyond had dangled some bait before her and she hated it. Something in her mind snapped.

"It looks like we're both going to be heading for the same goal then."  
He inclined his head on one side, still gnawing at his thumbnail.

"If you can break a curse with a curse, then I'll look for one too." Morning continued. "Of course, I wont be doing any damning."

He grinned at her before dropping from the chair onto all fours and scurrying under the desks. He popped up at Matsuda's desk, opened the top drawer and pulled out a jar of jam. He then vanished beneath the desks again and bounced back into a squatting position onto his seat. He beamed at Morning as he unscrewed the jar and scooped jam into his mouth making an incredible mess of his face and white shirt.

"I can always rely on finding a jar of jam in that drawer," He said, licking the sticky stuff off his fingers.

Morning glanced over at the desk. "Matsuda won't be happy about this come morning." She watched Beyond with disgust as she brought the conversation back onto topic. "I do have to ask you one question though. Why L?"

"Because you've played with him long enough. It's my turn." He flashed her a grin again.

She shuddered but masked it with a shake of her head. The sheer thought was creepy.

"Well, consider it a race," Morning growled. "One I will not let up on."

Beyond smirked at her as he licked his hand. "It's on."

* * *

**Awh I LOVE Beyond! He's so adorably creepy =3 Please R&R! If you don't, I'll deprive Beyond of his jam and hide all of L's candy!**


	7. Massacre

**faithful laptop with me so I can do a bit of writing =D I hope this chapter pleases considering there's been a bit of a wait. Like... a week? More than a week? I can't remember =( but anyway, do read and enjoy!  
**

**Disclaimer - I do NOT own Death Note**

* * *

Archie Chest's large house was in stark contrast to the other two Morning and Ryusei had visited. For the most part because it was big. Secondly, it wasn't as well looked after in the sense that it was incredibly cluttered and a strong animal smell clung to the air. The smell was stale, so whatever animal had been living here, if it even had, had long since left. Just like the other crime scenes however, there wasn't a single trace of evidence left behind. All traces that someone else had been in the house were removed – no fingerprints, hair or any other such traces. Which also meant that if there were any animal hair in the house, it had been cleaned away.

Morning crinkled her nose as the pair of investigators made their way into the living room where the body had been found. Another difference. Archie unlike the two girls hadn't been found in his bedroom. L hadn't mentioned any significance in this, it was unlikely he hadn't found any. Morning had long since been assured that if there were a puzzle to solve, L would solve it. She, on the other hand, didn't think there was any significance in the location of the man's body. It was simply in her opinion the room the killer had found him in.

Ryusei let out an audible sigh as the pair of them looked around the living room. The amount of clutter made it difficult to decide where to start.

"So we're looking for similar clues?" The girl asked. "Like a proof of a hobby or a Birth Certificate?"  
"Both, if possible," Morning answered, casting her violet eyes over the walls and shelves. "Although I can't see any obvious hobbies. The décor in here is hardly consistent."

It was true. Every ornament, soft toy, decorative plate – not a single one bore the same theme. Where there was a plate on the wall decorated with a fire breathing dragon, below it was an ornament of a teddy bear with a china dog next to it, then an ornament of Little Bo Peep. The sofa cushions were of varying colour and the throw was a drab brown. In a glass-fronted cupboard was a collection of ornamental foxes, owls, china dolls, frogs, plant life and various other themes.

"Do you think it's significant?" Ryusei asked.

"I think he was a hoarder," Morning snorted, making her way across the room and inspecting the ornaments as she passed.

Ryusei moved past her to a book case and crouched down. She reached out for a book and faltered.

"Bricks?"

Morning crouched down behind her and looked over her shoulder. She raised an eyebrow.

"Interesting bookends," She said.

The book case was rather sparse, each collection of books, if you could call it that, held upright by a brick at one end.

"Why do you think he used bricks?" Ryusei asked her.

Morning shrugged and stood up. "Why did he collect such garish ornaments and dolls?"

Ryusei popped her sleeve in her mouth and moved across the room to the glass cupboard. Peering in at the ornaments she seemed to check each shelf before dropping to the drawers and rummaging through them.

With a grunt, Morning decided to check the drawer beneath the telephone. If this room was meant to signify this man's life and personality she would have to say he didn't seem to have one. She was busying herself by going through a somewhat blank address book when she came across an entry that was blotched out with a few thick black lines of permanent marker. She was just about to voice this when Ryusei cut her off.

"There's a shed outside."

She looked over her shoulder at the girl. "Some gardens have those."

"Yes, but it's locked." The girl turned away from the window and left the living room.

"Where are you going?" Morning shouted. She got no reply.

* * *

Ryusei managed to scale the garden gate with ease using the uneven bricks in the wall as footholds and landing nimbly on the other side on her hands and feet. Wiping her hands on the front of her skirt she bolted for the shed.

It wasn't an imposing building, rather small with a little window in the side and marked with rain water. The lock, she was surprised to see, looked relatively new. She stared at the door wondering why the lock was still in place. Surely if the police had inspected inside, the lock would be broken off.

She released the padlock and moved around the edge of the shed sticking to a narrow path of concrete paving which was overrun with weeds. The window was dirty and it was impossible to see inside. A shadow was cast over the window, probably by garden tools. Looking at the garden she wondered if he ever used them. The grass was cut, albeit not very short, and there were no flower beds to speak of. She turned from the window and moved further along the path. Something moved beneath her foot with a soft grinding sound. She paused and stooped to inspect it. A small section of paving stone had come loose. She considered dismissing it, but curiosity got the better of her. Grabbing the edge in one hand she lifted it and gasped. A small key was embedded slightly in the dirt, glinting in the winter sun. It looked like someone had only just put it there. She plucked it free of its soil prison and wiped the dirt off with her fingers. An idea sparked in her mind. It must be the key for the padlock!

Turning back to the door, she jogged along the narrow pathway and grabbed the padlock in her hand, stuffing the key inside. It turned with ease and popped free. Without even giving it a second thought, she swung the door open... and screamed.

* * *

A scream made Morning drop the address book. She bolted for the front door, leaving it wide open and scaled the garden gate in one bound. She found Ryusei cowering in the entrance of the shed, the door wide open. She skidded to a halt and looked inside. The reason for the girl's scream was certainly justified.

The interior was splattered red with the corpses of over a dozen slaughtered cats and kittens. Morning's tolerance to such scenes was high and she stepped inside, picking up one of the large cats and taking in the situation.

"Just like the human victims," She said flatly. "Heart removed and drained of all blood." She looked around the shed, placing the cat back where she'd found it.

Another scan of the shed revealed the significance of this feline massacre. Ornaments, books, soft toys and fabric throws adorned the shelves. The demon's jaw dropped. Each one was in some way related to cats. She looked back at the girl who was still refusing to look into the shed.

"Ryusei, I can see this is hard for you but I need you to see this."

The girl didn't reply. Morning mentally slapped herself for her choice of words and delved deeper into the blood stained collection of cat themed books. Beneath a volume of cat breeds and show standards was one on breeding for showing and another on breeding Maine Coons. In another pile were various novels with a precariously perched tiger ornament on top of them. Deciding she'd seen enough, she took out a camera and took a few photographs. While lining up for a fifth shot, she froze. Something was sticking out from a particular book. She went back to the pile of books she'd first inspected and pulled out from between the pages of Breeding Maine Coons a neatly folded and clean Birth Certificate.

"Alright L," Morning grumbled. "You have a point." She pocketed it and left the shed, being sure to lock it afterwards.

She turned around to look for Ryusei who was leaning against the back wall of the house now, having moved away during Morning's photography session. The demon let out a sigh and approached her.

"Are you okay?"

Ryusei nodded slowly but still said nothing.

The pair of them turned to leave the garden. As Ryusei made to scale the brick wall, a noise distracted her. Her golden eyes snapped to a bush just below the wall. She moved the leaves aside and gasped, clutching something to her chest.

"Oh no, it's not a..."

Morning was cut off as Ryusei turned to show her the small kitten. Its fur was a mottled colour of ginger, black and several shades of brown.

"We can't just leave it," Ryusei told her. "Not after..." Her voice choked.

"Fine," Morning said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "But I'm not carrying it, and you can argue your case with L."

* * *

It disappointed Morning how L hadn't put up much of a fight about the cat. He'd seemed rather happy to let Ryusei keep it in her and Near's room. She wondered how the white haired boy would react about having a furry housemate but decided not to press the topic. She was currently busy uploading the photographs from her camera to her computer.

"What do you think the significance of this is, L?" Morning asked.

The detective didn't look over at her for fear of dropping the pile of marshmallows he was balancing on his spoon.

"Cats."

"I know they're cats," Morning snorted. "But _why _cats?"

"What can you tell me about Archie Chest and his cats?"

Morning sighed and turned her chair so she was facing him. "He bred them. Maine Coons to be exact. An American breed, quite large with an impressive ruff and an ostrich-plume tail."

"Exactly."

"So how is that significant?"

"It's his name. The cats are a pointer to it, moreso the fact he killed them. That's the clue. And he did so in such a fashion that we could be certain it was a clue left by him. The significance of their murders alone is removed by the fact the room was stained with blood."

"That's why you think he left it in such a mess?" Morning asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought at first it was like that out of either sheer laziness or the cats were making such a racket he couldn't risk hanging around to clean it."

"No, I don't think that's why." He finally turned his chair to face her. "It's a clue. I managed to work out the significance of his name while you were busy investigating the scene. His name is an anagram of 'Cheshire Cat'."

Morning blinked. "You're kidding me?"

"No, it is."

"So that means?"

"A Prom Queen – the Queen of Hearts. A chess piece – Through the Looking Glass. There were chess pieces lying in the fire place. And now we have a Cheshire Cat."

"So you were right."

"Of course I was," L said, with an air of smugness. "I am now dubbing these The Wonderland Murders."

"Are you going to tell the police? Or the media?"

L popped a marshmallow in his mouth. "No. I intend to solve this alone. With the help of my team of course."

Morning shook her head and turned back to her computer, swiftly copying the files over onto a pen drive and handing it to the detective. He took it carefully and loaded the images up on his computer screen.

"Interesting."

"In a morbid way," Morning said, scooting her chair over to him. "As you can see, he collected all the ornaments from inside the house and gathered them in the shed. Ryusei was too distressed for us to hang around much longer so I just locked the door and left it like that but not before grabbing this." She handed him the address book.

He flicked through the pages, noting straight away the ones that had been blacked out.

"If you couple that with the mish mash of ornaments and the books emptied off the case and held up with bricks, you can see that the killer moved everything that was related to cats into the shed and replaced them with completely unrelated items."

"Did you inspect the entire house?" L asked her.

"No, but I can guess the same applied for the other rooms."

L sighed. "It's not about guessing. But we have the clues we need. The Birth Certificate, photos of the shed and this address book."

"Can you retrieve the blacked out details?"

"It won't be easy, but I'll try. It wouldn't surprise me if they're just linked to breeders or a breeding society."

Morning nodded. "Well if you don't mind, I think I'll retire."

"You've earned it."

The demon left the office and made her way back to her room. Since the run-in with Beyond, she was thinking a little more clearly. But her problem was still there, just manifested in a different form. How was she to break L's curse? Not to mention the looming feeling of dread she now had over these murders.

Striding into her room she threw open the balcony window.

"Alright! I know you're here somewhere now come out!"

Her voice startled Abraxas, causing him to fly in circles around her head. She ignored the bat, throwing her violet gaze around her room.

"Come on! Show yourself!"

"Not exactly patient today, are we?"

She spun on her heel, her eyes falling on the figure leaning against the window with a jar of jam in one hand and the other inside the jar.

"Good grief, Beyond. What _are _you wearing?"

Beyond grinned as Morning's eyes traced his outfit. A blue suit with a matching tail coat and white cravat finished off with a blue top hat, and sticking out of the side of the top hat was an ace of spades and a rose.

"It seemed more fitting," He replied.

"That only arouses my suspicions," Morning growled. "What do you know about these murders?"

Beyond licked his hand, his eyes going impossibly wide. "Murders?"

"You've got to have heard of them! People are being found with their hearts ripped out! The media has dubbed the killer 'The Heart Collector'. L, on the other hand, has linked it in with Alice in Wonderland and you showing up dressed like the Mad Hatter isn't going to ease your case."

"Oh? I thought you'd like it."

Morning hoped deep down he wasn't referring to the suit.

"You haven't answered me," She said.

"I haven't needed to."

"Well to be honest, Beyond, we are all over the place with this new spree of crimes and it's enough that I've had to rush back from the latest scene with a terrified Ryusei who happened to come across a shed full of dead cats!"

"Ryusei you say?" Beyond lowered his jar and a small smile played on his lips. "I haven't seen her in a while. Where is she? Floor four?" He slipped out onto the balcony and peered over the edge of the rail.

"Don't you even think about it, Beyond. You scared her enough the last time!"

He flashed Morning a grin and dived over the edge of the rail.

Morning cursed and raced across her room. A thought washed over her causing her to falter at the door and leave her wondering whether or not she should warn the girl.

'_Where is she? Floor four?_'

"He knew..." She looked back at the open window. A horrible sinking feeling spread through her stomach. Had Ryusei been in touch with that mad man?

* * *

**Argh! Beyond in that suit! *spazz* Next chapter shouldn't be too long away. Please R&R =D **


	8. Unexpected Assistance

**Oh dear, I am late uploading this! Things will be a lot easier when we've finally settled into a permanent home and I'm not switching between computer systems...**

**I've also not been inspired to write. Not at all. But I knuckled down today and decided to do a chapter, and upload one. So here is chapter 8. I hope it pleases. I'm going to try and write as much as I can before Monday. I can't promise I will DEFINITELY have a new upload by the end of the week, but I'll try.**

**Disclaimer - I do NOT own Death Note!**

* * *

It would be incorrect to say that no one in the ICPO knew of Floor 4's existence. Of course they did. However, they didn't know what it was, or if they had found out no one ever said. L had thought it necessary not to declare it 'out of bounds' like the Monitor Room. It was too risky in his opinion. Instead it was simply a floor that looked identical to the Monitor Room with a panel lock on the side and a red 'no entry' light above it. To see a locked door marked 'no entry' would be enough to satisfy most people's curiosity, and the lack of a turnkey lock would prevent the most prolific of lock-pickers breaking and entering.

That was what L had hoped, and Ryusei being one of few who knew the real purpose of this room had felt safe knowing that no one could just break in. At least... that's what she thought.

Dinner had been somewhat interesting. Aizawa and Ide had arrived that morning and been sleeping most of the day so they had joined them at dinner time looking very tired and jetlagged. She'd made a joke about them timing their arrival well to have the weekend to recover.

She was now in a very good mood after catching up with a friend she thought she would never see in person again as she made her way back to the room she and Near called home. She pulled the card-key out of her pocket – an extra security measure L had installed – and, after the key pad had aknowledged it, she punched in the code and the door unlocked, allowing her entry. Humming to herself, she made her way to the small sitting area and flicked on the TV. Falling back into the sofa, she let out a sigh and was soon joined by the tiny kitten. She scooped it onto her lap and scratched its ears.

"Were you okay on your own?" She asked it. She took it's little mew as an answer and smiled. "Yeah, I've learned it's not so bad too. Anyway, Near should be joining us soon."

"Not too soon I hope?"

Ryusei span in her seat, the small kitten letting out a surprised yowl of protest. Her golden eyes landed on the grinning face of Beyond. He licked jam off his hand as he watched her from his squatting position beneath the balcony window.

"What are you doing here?" That was what Ryusei had hoped to ask, however her voice broke mid sentence and she was very aware that what she actually spouted was nonsense.

"Morning tells me you had a rather... _unpleasant_... experience." The grin he flashed as he placed emphasis that word sent chills down the young woman's spine.

Ryusei opened her mouth to speak but words died on her tongue. She looked down at the kitten, which was currently retreating backwards across her lap to hide in the crook of her arm.

"Is that Mewling one of the survivors?" Beyond was watching the small kitten with a look of mischeivous curiosity.

Ryusei's eyes shot up to meet his. "What!?"

He scurried across the floor and squatted next to her, scooping the kitten into his hands. Its protests soon turned to purrs as he gently petted its head.

Ryusei watched him for a moment as she sucked on her sleeve, her heart racing. As time dragged by, she began to relax and let her mind take in the situation. This man who terrified her was currently sat petting a tiny kitten, donned in a Victorian-esque blue suit and top hat. The innocence of the scene calmed her nerves and she finally found the courage to attempt her main question again.

"What are you doing here?"

He flashed her a grin. "Do I need a reason to drop in and visit?"

Her eyes flickered away from him around the room, the only sounds being the kitten's purrs and her noisy sleeve-sucking.

"You're probably wondering how I got in?"

She nodded. "It's supposed to be a secure area."  
He gave her another grin which sent shivers down her spine. "A magician never reveals his tricks."

She swallowed audibly and edged away until she met the arm of the chair.

"Besides, what Morning said intrigued me."

He leant over the kitten and grabbed a notebook off the table between his thumb and forefinger. He sat back again, flicking through the book. Without his trademark evil grin he reminded Ryusei a lot of L. She shook her head sharply and reminded herself she was sat with a psycopathic nutcase who believed immortality was the answer to life's problems.

"These murders," He continued, chewing on his thumbnail, "I'm led to believe you've been helping to investigate."

She reached over to take the notebook. "Stuff in there is confidential."

He held the book in the air out of her reach. "Then you shouldn't take your work home."  
"Like I said, it's a _secure area_!"

"My presence here says otherwise." He leant away from her, flicking through the book once more. "Alice Parker – Prom Queen. Key items – photo and a Birth Certificate found inside the base of the bed." She lunged towards him and he snatched the book away from her again, leaning further away from her flailing hands and almost toppling over the arm of the chair. "Natasha Alicia Barton – Chess Champion. Key items – trophy and Birth Certificate found on trophy shelf." He looked over his shoulder at her. "You haven't added today's case have you?"

"I haven't had chance," She said. "Besides, I was rather traumatised. Now give it back!"

He grabbed a pen off the table. "Name?"

Ryusei's eyes widened. "What are you doing?"  
"You've got some very useful clues here and I can see why L has linked it to Alice in Wonderland. However, I'd like to know how the other case links in."

"Fine." Ryusei leant across him and retrieved the notebook and pen. She opened it on her lap and looked up when she felt his eyes on her. He had turned to face her, nibbling on his thumbnail and wearing an inquisitive smile. He reminded her of a child. Rolling her eyes, she jotted the information down. Once she had finished, she became aware of Beyond standing behind her and reading over her shoulder. She almost jumped.

"Archie Chest. Breeds Maine Coon Cats. Key items – Birth Certificate." He looked down at her. "What proof do you have that he breeds cats?"

Ryusei looked at the kitten who was now sound asleep on a sofa cushion. She suppressed the tears that threatened to leak from her eyes.

"Ah." He moved back towards the window and fell into a squat with his back to the glass. "So, there has been a Birth Certificate at each scene, and all the deaths have somehow linked in with a character from Alice in Wonderland the first two being 'Alice'." He nibbled on his thumbnail again. "Or so the killer would have you believe."

Ryusei looked over at him. "Are you saying the names aren't significant?"

"They are in a sense. I'm not saying the two 'Alice' references aren't significant. What is more significant are the clues. Archie Chest is rather special because..." He inclined his head on one side, staring off into space. "The name is an anagram of 'Cheshire Cat'."

Ryusei snapped her attention back to the book. Jotting down his name she rearranged the letters and gasped. Beyond was right.

"Not to mention the rather over-elaborate clue he left behind," he continued. "The clues are also significant. The Prom Queen for starters. 'Queen of Hearts' – the Birth Certificate was inside the bed, not under it. Am I right?" He looked up at Ryusei and she nodded. Looking away again, he went on, "In that case it is significant to going down a rabbit hole. The Queen of Hearts was found in Wonderland and not to be confused with The Red Queen in 'Alice Through the Looking Glass'."

"How do you know all this?" Ryusei asked.

Beyond didn't look at her. "It's obvious to someone who likes puzzles. Right, so the next clue is as clear as day. The Birth Certificate was found amongst the chess trophies which means it was a reference to the Chess Pieces in the fireplace when Alice went through the Looking Glass. Two Alices, two different stories. Then there's the placement of where 'Alice' is in the name. First name – first story. Second name – second story. Are you keeping up with me so far?"

Ryusei looked up from her note taking to find Beyond looking at her again. She nodded.

"Now where was the certificate found in Archie Chest's home?"

"Inside a book about breeding Maine Coons," She answered.

"Then, coupled with his name, that is an obvious reference to the Cheshire Cat."

Ryusei sat back in her chair and looked over the notes. Despite the fact they had tied the clues in with the deaths and their significance things were still not looking any clearer.

"Other than the Birth Certificate," Beyond began, "You also got the Mewling at the scene."

"The Mewling isn't a clue," Ryusei told him. "It's a survivor."

Beyond grinned, still chewing his thumbnail. "A witness."

She looked over at the sleeping kitten. A witness it may be, but it couldn't speak in human tongues. She sighed and jotted 'kitten' down under 'clues'.

"As much as we've figured out," She sighed, "We're still no closer to finding a pattern to prevent further deaths. The dates aren't consecutive either."

Beyond chuckled. "This killer plans to keep you on your toes." Ryusei shot him a look but he ignored it. "There may be more clues to tie in with the Birth Certificates. Do you think you could obtain them?"

She thought for a moment, chewing on her sleeve. "I could do."

"Well if you do, I'd gladly go over them with you." That spine chilling grin again.

Ryusei shuffled off the sofa. "If you wait here I'll go get them."

"You're rather-" His voice cut off sharply as he glanced out of the window over his shoulder. "Tomorrow." Sliding the window open, he dived over the balcony rail and vanished.

A chill decended on the room and Ryusei fell back into the sofa, waking the kitten. A thud caused her to look back out onto the balcony. Morning stood leaning over the rail, her attention fixed on the London streets.

"Morning?"

The demon looked back at her. "I was planning on leaving you to it," She snarled. "How long have you been laising with Beyond?"

"I've not," Ryusei said flatly. "I'd not seen him at all until today. And that's the truth!"

Morning sighed and stepped into the room, drawing the window back across behind her.

"What did he want?"

"To help."

"I hardly believe that. That man relishes in chaos. I've warned you before to be careful."

"Maybe that's why he wants to get involved," Ryusei told her, tucking the notebook discretely under the chair cushion and masking her actions by picking up the kitten. She was mildly surprised when Morning didn't seem to notice. She thought nothing escaped the demon's eye but she was too preoccupied with keeping an eye open for Beyond outside.

"If he's getting involved it's to make more chaos for us," She said, stuffing her hands into her coat pocket. "I advise you not to play his games. I think I should wait here until Near comes back."  
The ominous air that had filled the room made Ryusei feel rather uneasy and she was tempted to accept the demon's offer. However, she didn't want to run her findings by her until she'd shown Beyond the Birth Certificates.

"I'm okay. You can leave."  
Morning's eyes flashed as she looked at her. "You think I'm going to leave you alone with him out there?"

Ryusei met her gaze. "I'm _telling_ you to leave me alone. I can look after myself."

* * *

**What does Beyond want? =O Please R&R!**


	9. Bugs And Angels

**I'm trying to get the story moving along here. The next couple of chapters (after this one) will really push things forward so I can get to some kind of exciting conclusion using the ideas which I have been desperately wanting to write for quite some time! So, this is a bit of a filler chapter but... I hope it pleases nontheless!**

**Disclaimer - I do NOT own Death Note!**

* * *

L had been up all night sat at his desk with the same daunting and unnerving thoughts playing on his mind. This chain of murders... they were almost too convenient in their timing, not to mention the puzzle-like clues that seemed to suggest that the scenarios were solely aimed at him. He'd never failed in solving a single crime, and once he got absorbed in a case he wouldn't stop until he'd successfully solved it, including each and every little puzzle.

However, something wasn't right. It was _too_ convenient and it had got to the point where he was no longer dismissing the idea of this being an inside job. Nibbling his thumbnail he leant back in his chair and stared at the shadows stretching up the face of the far office wall. It wouldn't be the first time. The strain of killings that had intrigued him a mere few years ago had all been linked to Ryusei, but it couldn't be her now, could it? It wasn't her style... although, Morning had told him about the other 'Shinigami' who had gone insane with power, so it wasn't completely impossible for Ryusei to go mad.

He shook his head. That wasn't it. He couldn't sit in denial any more. He did have his suspicions, but they didn't point to Ryusei. She'd been the most helpful, and as far as L was concerned he was almost one hundred percent certain the girl was innocent.

* * *

Morning begrudgingly made her way down to the office early the next day. She'd been sleeping a lot more than normal, probably due to the fact her mind wouldn't stop its incessant problem-solving. It wouldn't be so bad if it was actually _getting_ somewhere but she was becoming mentally drained.

Then there was the added fact that Ryusei had put her in her place. She'd never expected to be told off by that girl and she hadn't handled it well. In fact, she'd just turned her back on her and stormed out of the flat, leaving the girl to her own demise. If she wanted to liaise with Beyond then so be it, she wasn't going to stop her if that was her attitude. She had her own problems to deal with.

As she stepped out of the elevator onto the office floor she was greeted by silence and bombarded by sudden stares from her colleagues. She froze mid step and stared back.

"What?"

L looked away from her and commenced unwrapping a cupcake.

"I've been discussing a difficult matter with the team and it's been suggested that I now need to speak to you about it."  
Something didn't bode well in the demon's mind. First was the fact that it was a Saturday and the entire team had been gathered together including the clearly jet-lagged Aizawa and Ide. The looks from the officers were growing uneasy and Matsuda was now staring at his hands. She took a few confident steps forwards until she reached L's desk and stopped behind him.

"Go on."

"We're not getting very far on this case," L told her without so much as a glance in her direction. "And everyone agrees that the timing is too convenient."

Morning glanced at the calendar. She'd thought the same thing.

"So I am now no longer ruling out this being an inside job. As such I would like you to wear this." He handed her a wire over his shoulder.

Morning's heart sank at the sight of that wire and she couldn't hide the shock on her face. "You want to _bug_ me?"

"It's only logical," L replied over a mouth full of cake. "You're the most mobile of us here, and if history is to play any part in this you have confessed to enjoying chaos. You also have a lot of underground links outside of the ICPO."

"So what you are saying is you don't trust me?" Her voice wavered and she silently scolded herself. '_Psh! Well done maintaining confidence._' She was used to not being trusted, but the fact was that in handing her that wire, L was saying _he_ didn't trust her and it struck her like a blade to the chest.

"I'm not saying that exactly. You see, I want to trust you so I'm not dismissing you from the team. But I also want to keep tabs on you twentyfour-seven. Just to be fair, I'm bugging the rest of the team."

Morning snatched the wire from L and swiftly fastened it to her coat. "Fine. But I'm only doing this to prove I have nothing to hide."  
"That's just what I expected," L said. "Storming out right now would only have you arrested and questioned."

"I'd expect nothing less," Morning grumbled, falling into the chair at her desk. "Are there any more bombshells you wish to drop on me?"

"Actually yes, but these are far less personal."

"You don't get much more personal than accusing a friend of springing a chain of mass murders."

"It does involve you, however," L said, finally spinning his chair to face her. "Those photographs you took yesterday."

"I'm guessing you mean the dead cats."  
"Oh! Please don't show them to us again!" Matsuda wailed, but was soon silenced by a gentle cuff over the head from Aizawa.

"I don't plan to," L told him. "What I am wanting to tell you is that I sent someone to investigate the shed and see if they could find out why it was left in stark contrast to the scenes involving humans."

"We had already expressed theories on that," Morning said. "Were any of them correct?"  
"No," L answered, licking his finger and reminding Morning of a certain deranged man. "The shed was, in fact, spotless. That is to say, everything had been wiped down removing all traces of fingerprints, from the floor to the items on the shelves and the light bulb in the ceiling."

"Was the blood gone?" Morning suppressed her surprise. It couldn't have been removed overnight?  
"No, it was still there. A sample was taken, and it was in fact not cat blood at all. It was pig's blood." L caught Morning's bemused glance and paused. The entire room was silent, all eyes on the detective.

"Pig's blood?" Matsuda repeated.

"Yes," L said, spinning his chair back to his desk. "The killer clearly wanted to emphasise that the scene was a clue, drawing us towards the significance of the man's name. It is an anagram of 'Cheshire Cat' and the cats were the clue."

"Where would he have got pig's blood?" Aizawa asked.

"Most likely a slaughterhouse. Somewhere he could slip in and retrieve some without being noticed. No reports of missing livestock have been raised, so I doubt he invaded any farms."

"If he did kill a pig it would deviate away from the Wonderland scenario," Morning snorted.

"Exactly," L agreed.

"I don't mean to rain all over your parade," Aizawa continued. "But don't you think linking in all these murders to Wonderland Characters is a bit obscure?"

"Not at all. The first two were both a form of 'Alice'. The first was a Prom Queen – The Queen of Hearts. The second was a Chess Champion, and the 'Alice' fell into her middle name, or second name if you would. The second story. The Chess pieces were in 'Through the Looking Glass.' Both being called Alice was a reference to the two stories. The placement of the Birth Certificates is significant in the second and third killings, but the first location still baffles me."  
"The Rabbit Hole."  
Everyone turned to look at Ryusei who had been sitting silently at the back of the office next to Near. She had her head down, rummaging through the case files on her lap.

"Incredible," L said, striking a key and bringing up the files on his screen. "When did you figure that out?"

"Last night," She answered. "I was thinking about it, and it just seemed to make sense. I used to read Alice in Wonderland a lot when I was little."  
L was now biting anxiously on his thumb nail. Morning knew he was probably kicking himself for not figuring that out himself, but she had to admit it was a rather obscure clue. Obvious now she thought about it, but it wasn't all that clear at a first glance. If she came up with the answer to that puzzle last night, then there was only one person who could have helped her. He'd ran off the instant he knew she was coming to investigate... how did _he_ know?

"Morning, could you grind your teeth a little quieter please?"

She looked at L and sighed. "Sorry. I think I'm getting a little stressed." She stood up and headed to the elevator. "If you don't mind, I'm going to go for a walk."

As the elevator opened to accept her, she found she wasn't the only one climbing inside. She sighed, leaning against the glass wall to look at L.

"Have you decided to come with me?"  
"You know I don't go outside." L struck the button for the lobby. "You do seem very stressed lately and I would like to know what's bothering you."  
"Well the biggest thing is you don't trust me," She snorted. "Then there's the other problem..."

L inclined his head on one side, urging her on.

She sighed. "_He's_ back."

The detective nodded as realisation showed in his dark eyes. "I see. Has he been bothering you?"  
The door opened but neither of them exited. Morning continued to lean on the wall, her arms folded, staring at the floor. What should she tell him? That Beyond wants to damn him? That he's told her how to break the 'curse' on him? She shook her head sharply and slipped past him onto the lobby.

"Have you bugged Ryusei as well?" She asked over her shoulder.

L stared at her, holding the door open. "Of course."  
"Good. Because he's sniffing around her."

He nodded and released the door, leaving Morning to her own devices. She tugged the collar of her coat up and headed outside. It wasn't exactly a lie. Beyond was sniffing around Ryusei, but what his reasons were she had no idea. Maybe just to pass the time while he waited for a fitting moment to snatch L away.

The cold air greeted her, snow falling gently from the sky. Despite living on this earth for centuries, it never failed to shock the demon how long winter seemed to last. She didn't have a favourite season. They came and went just like the years did. But the cold, winter season seemed quite fitting for her current circumstances and she let the harsh, bitter wind cleanse her thoughts.

She was happy to find the park open. It wasn't too far from the ICPO and it provided a nice, scenic walk away from the bustling city. Just as she expected, it was virtually empty. Only dog walkers frequented this park in winter. The trees hung their bare limbs overhead, reaching down like frost-covered claws. Her feet crunched rhythmically over the frozen earth and she focused on the noise, letting her mind sort itself out without her conscious help.

She had no idea how long she'd been walking for when suddenly someone stepped out from amongst the bushes and intercepted her, grabbing her by the hem of her coat. She took a step back and lashed out at her assailant, missing as he leapt away from her. When her eyes fell on the man before her, she lowered hands.

"Light?"

The angel glanced around him and when he was satisfied they weren't being watched he turned back to her and nodded.

"Sorry if I startled you, Morning. I just had to turn that off." He nodded to her coat.

She looked down to find the wire swinging limply from her coat. Letting out a sigh of relief, she stuffed it into her pocket.

"That's understandable but suspicious. L knows what you are. Which brings me to ask you – why are you here?"

"There's a big problem here on Earth that us Celestials aren't happy with. I'm sure you know what it is. We've recently discovered someone wants to override our rules."

Morning sighed and leant against a tree. Just when she thought she could have a moment away from her problems, they follow her.

"You mean Beyond?"

"And the rest." Light grabbed her by her collar and raised her off the ground, closing in on her until his nose was mere millimeters away from hers. She could feel the heat from the Celestial's fire tickling her skin and seeping in through her clothes – something she'd only heard of and never experienced until now.

"They can see me but they can't hear me," He said quietly. "Not if I keep my voice low anyway."

"Can't you keep your voice low and not strangle me?"

"If it looks like I'm threatening you, they wont get suspicious. When I found out it was L whom Beyond was targeting, I volunteered to stop him. I don't want L to be lost forever, but damning him is not the answer."

Morning shook her head. "I know, that's why I've opted to stop him as well."

"I know. That's why I followed you here. The Celestials didn't know that their 'blessing' could be overruled by a demon's curse, and it's come as quite a shock. No one has ever tried it before, and from what I know very few people have ever decided to come back to Earth after dying. I know L, and I know he's dreading what's coming. He told me in confidence, but I think you're close enough to know."

"Regardless, I wont tell him you told me."

"Now I'm not just going to stop Beyond. I'm going to help you." He let go of her collar, letting her slump to the floor. He rubbed his hand, blue from the cold, with his free hand. Morning knew it wasn't from the weather.

She stood back up, dusting herself down. "Are you serious?"  
Light nodded, maintaining his close, threatening demeanour. "Celestials have no authority in the Netherworld, but so long as he's up here on Earth he's in a lot of danger."

Morning felt her heart sink. She'd never considered hurting Beyond and the thought of him coming to any harm made her hackles rise.

"Stay out of this, angel, and leave him to me."

Light laughed. "Don't worry, I don't think I could harm him if I wanted to. He's got a good couple of centuries experience on me. But that doesn't mean I won't try if it comes to it."

"Then I'll be sure to keep an eye on him," Morning growled. "And if you want to get to him, you have to go through me. If you want to help me, you'll have to co-operate." She folded her arms and gave him a half smile. "So what knowledge do you have?"

"I don't know much about curses, but what I do know might help you. You can only replace a curse with one of equal or greater power."

"So damning is more powerful than the Celestial Blessing?"

"Unfortunately yes," Light said, scratching his head. "And it's the most powerful 'curse' the Celetials have. If Beyond damned him, then we wouldn't be able to save him."

Morning sighed, leaning against the tree again. She rubbed her temples slowly.

"This is getting too much for me."

"Listen," Light said, close to her ear. "I'm not going to ignore my job, but I will keep a look out for anything that may help you. Understood?"

Morning nodded.

Taking a few steps back, Light gave her a smile before spreading his wings and vanishing into the air.

She turned away from the tree, heading back through the park the way she'd come. So, now the Celestial Beings were involved and had sent Light to intervene. She couldn't decide if accidentally killing him was the worst thing Ryusei had done or not.

* * *

**It wouldn't have made sense if the Celestials just ignored Beyond's desire to override their 'Blessing'... and it was an excuse to add Light to the story X3 please R&R!**


	10. Weaknesses

**Another chapter. I'm spoiling you, my silent readers! I don't know if anyone's actually enjoying this because no one's saying =/ I know it's not as good as Falling Star, because I've took a different route. I've gone for confusion, suspense and less action to be honest. I was rather inspired by Another Note and decided to try something more mystery based and weird. It's going to get weirder... (most of my stories do)**

**Anyway. I'm not sure how much writing I'm going to get done over the next few days. I go away for the weekend tomorrow, and I'm moving house all next week. Plus I'll be relying on Mobile Broadband until we get internet set up and my signal isn't very good where I'm moving to... I'll try to update when I can. I'll mooch off the college wireless if I have to.**

**Disclaimer - I do NOT own Death Note!**

* * *

Ryusei was getting quite agitated. It had been over a week since Beyond had visited her, and he had said he'd be back the next day to help her solve the puzzle of the Birth Certificates. She was also mildly relieved he hadn't shown as she wasn't sure how to avoid the obstacle of the wire she'd been forced to wear.

She sat back in the sofa and yawned. The effects of avoiding sleep were starting to catch up with her. Two nights now she'd stayed awake. The nightmares appeared to be growing more frequent and she'd had three of them in a row, always the same resulting in her killing her mother. The small snatches of sleep she'd unwillingly grabbed since had been free of the horrific images, but the fear still loomed over her.

The mottled brown kitten leapt onto the sofa and curled up on her lap, letting out a yawn of its own.

"Are you tired too, Mewling?" She asked it.

The kitten purred in response.

Ryusei turned her attention to the world outside, gazing out of the window at the balcony. Waiting for Beyond who may or may not show up was getting dull and she could feel sleep tugging at her. She considered abandoning the sofa to go and see what Near was up to in the Monitor Room. They seemed to be spending more and more time apart recently. She sighed and looked down at the folder in her hands. The sole reason they had been working apart. She'd been asked to investigate the clues to these murders while he was checking CCTV footage from the areas close to the victims' homes. She'd thought this crime would be easier to solve, and it frustrated her that they didn't seem to be getting anywhere. There had also been no more murders since Archie Chest which was good in the sense no more lives had been lost, but it also meant no more clues to bring them any closer to the killer.

Boredom setting in, she scooped up the cat in her arms and stood up.

"I think we'll get a book to read and go and join Near. What do you say?"  
The kitten snuggled in her arms, unwilling to let go of sleep quite yet.

She opened the door to the bedroom and, leaving it wide open, approached the book case which was filled with various graphic novels and fantasy stories. She reached out for a large epic but her fingers didn't even manage to brush the spine. She dropped the kitten causing it to let out a shrill yowl of protest as a strong hand wrapped around her mouth. Another hand forced her to turn around and her eyes widened as Beyond's grinning face greeted her. Keeping her mouth covered, he raised a finger to his lips and indicated the wire sticking out of her fleece jacket. Taking his message, she nodded slowly and he removed his hand.

The strange man then dropped to his hands and feet and began crawling around the room inspecting various nooks and crannies, the grates for the air conditioning, even various objects and toys adorning the shelves. She watched him curiously, adorned once again in that same curious blue suit. She scooped up the kitten and rubbed its head apologetically, accepting its purrs as a sign it forgave her. She wanted to ask Beyond what he was looking for, but with the bug attached to her conversation without arousing suspicion was impossible. If he knew about the wires that was very likely the reason he'd not visited sooner.

Sinking to a sitting position, she grabbed the book off the shelf and sat back, flicking aimlessly through its pages as Beyond took his inspections into the sitting room. She hoped he'd find a way to communicate with her or this was going to be incredibly awkward. After what felt like an eternity, she found herself feeling restless. She stood up again and grabbed a pen and paper off her desk. She jotted down a few words and caught Beyond as he re-entered the bedroom.

'_What do you suggest we do?_'

He paused mid-crawl and read her note, then taking the pen and paper replied;

'_There are no other bugs except the one on your jacket_.'

Jacket...

She shrugged off the fleece and trotted back into the sitting area with Beyond on her heels. He made sure the bedroom door was closed securely and joined her on the sofa.

"I got the Birth Certificates," She said, keeping her voice quiet just in case the speaker on her coat could pick anything up through the closed door.

He took the file from her hands and took out the Birth Certificates, looking over them curiously. He then handed them back and leapt over the back of the sofa to the kitchen.

"What do you think?" She asked him.

"What do _you_ think?"

Cryptic as ever. She sighed and cradled the kitten, staring at the yellow ambiguous squares of paper. When Beyond rejoined her, he was clutching a jar of jam.

"I had that ordered in just for you," She told him. "I'm not a fan."

He grinned. "Much appreciated. So..." He gestured to the certificates. "What similarities do you see?"  
"Similarities?" She grabbed the sheets again and flicked through them, checking over the details. The names weren't similar, that had already been dismissed. The ages were too different to bode any significance. Parent lineage was definitely different as none of them were related. That just left...

"The towns of birth," She said, looking up at Beyond. "They were all born in Oxford."

He grinned again. "Exactly. I spotted that straight away. Well done."

"How is that significant?" She asked, looking back down at the certificates. "Does it aid L's theory?"  
"Definitely," Beyond said as he licked jam off his fingers. "Alice in Wonderland was written in Oxford and many of the landmarks were believed to inspire elements to the story."

Ryusei stared blankly at the now very significant sheets of paper. "I wonder if L noticed that?"  
Beyond grinned. "If he had, he would have said."

"But it looks so obvious now."  
"He's really not on his ball," Beyond told her. "You've had those in your room for over a week now and it's unlikely he's made any copies." He flashed her another cruel grin. "I guess he's got a lot on his mind."

The tone of his voice sent chills down her spine and she quickly distracted herself by jotting the new information in her note book. Now that this puzzle was solved, Beyond could leave. She glanced back up at him, still sitting there drinking the jam like a beverage.

"Well we've sorted it. Thanks for your help."

He licked his lips and smirked at her. "No problem."

She shuddered. He didn't appear to be taking the hint. She mulled over the consequences of asking him to leave when, as if in answer to her silent wishes, the balcony window swung open and Morning barged in.

"Ryusei!" She growled, shooting the girl a fierce look. She then grabbed Beyond by the collar and wrenched him off the chair. "I knew L should have bugged this room."  
"He's really not all together recently is he?" Beyond grinned.

She shot Ryusei another look. "That bug was for your own protection."

"I was fine," The girl said firmly.

Morning didn't answer. She left the room, dragging the mad man behind her. Grateful he was gone, Ryusei sank back down into her seat with a sigh of relief. Now she'd gathered enough information, she could discuss her findings with L.

* * *

"What do you think you're doing?" Morning growled.

"Just doing a little puzzle solving to keep myself occupied," Beyond answered.

They were both now stood in Morning's room, the balcony window wide open with bats fluttering in and out around their heads. Abraxas as ever was hanging from his perch on the curtain rail while Morning paced back and forth clenching and unclenching her hands. She turned sharply to face Beyond and her eyes flashed menacingly.

"And why are you showing such an interest in this case?"

He stared blankly at her. "I'm bored."

"You're lonely." She turned away again and moved over to her bed considering sitting down. She changed her mind and moved back to the middle of the room.

Beyond watched her with mild amusement as he leant on the wall with his arms crossed across his chest.

"What's got you in a fluster, Little Bat?" He asked.

"Oh let me think," Morning answered, rolling her eyes. "These murders start, then you show up and start causing problems!"  
He shrugged. "I need to do _something_ to pass the time."

"It seems all you're _doing_ is passing time! What are you waiting for?"

He didn't answer, just gave her an unsettling smirk.

She shook her head and paced around the room again. "I don't know what your game is, Beyond, but believe me when I say you're in a lot of trouble."

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow, his dark eyes fixed on hers. At least that comment had got his interest.

"Yes."

"Care to elaborate?" He lowered his eyes from hers down her neck to the collar of her coat. The look in his eye sent chills down her spine.

"Not especially," She said. "But I'm not the only one trying to stop you now."

"Oh that sounds like fun." He moved away from the wall and crossed the room towards her. "You know how much I like games, and the more players there are, the bigger the challenge is."

He kept stepping towards her, causing her to move backwards away from him. Her eyes were fixed on his, dark and unnervingly similar to L's. His whole resemblance to that certain detective was uncanny and without that trademark grin of his he looked identical. She felt solid brick behind her and was forced to stop, sandwiched between the mad man and the wall. Her heart was pounding at the sudden air of danger radiating from him and she wished someone would walk in and come to her aide. As if on cue, a black blur darted from the window with a shrill shriek and Beyond's hand shot upwards, snatching the small creature from the air.

"Summoning your pets to attack me now?" He stared at the struggling Abraxas in his hand, his tiny teeth sinking into his captor's finger. With a sharp jerk of his hand, he sent the bat flying across the room and skidding out of sight beneath the dresser.

Morning's heart sank. Beyond was dangerously close to her now. She could feel the warmth radiating from his body and the sweet smell of jam was nauseating. Yet for some reason she couldn't find the strength to fight him off.

"You know how competitive I get playing games," He said, slipping his left hand under the collar of her coat. "Winning is just a matter of staying one step ahead of your opponents. You have to know their strengths and their weaknesses, and I know yours very well so you had better be careful, Little Bat." He released her collar and slammed his hand against the wall, causing her heart to leap into her throat. His face was merely millimetres away from her own and she could feel his breath on her skin. He ran the fingers of his free hand gently down her neck and warned in almost a whisper, "Or you'll leave yourself completely powerless against me." He turned away and leapt through the window, vanishing over the edge of the balcony.

Morning let herself slide down the wall, her hand brushing the shattered microphone which had once been attached to her collar. Her energy had completely drained from her. She couldn't have done anything. Her heart was racing as fast as a bat's, but it was nothing to do with fear. She didn't feel fear, not for her own life. What frightened her was something she didn't understand. Every time she saw that crazed creature, she was reminded of L. She let out a groan and leant her head back against the cool wall. Realisation had sunk in and it did so with the harshness of a hot blade. That was why she couldn't fight him, and he knew it.

A soft noise came from the dresser, causing her to look up. Abraxas was poking his head out of the small gap. He let out a series of chirps inaudible to human ears, filling Morning's already swirling mind with images.

"Yes, I'm upset too," She told him. "But in my opinion you're lucky. I'd rather just be worried about having a broken wing."

* * *

**Gah writing seductive situations is NOT my forte. That part alone took AAAAAAAAAAGES to write. Beyond is probably also out of character at times. I just love the idea of him speaking in a cryptic fashion. I also like writing confusion and leaving my readers confused. I don't know why I find it fun... I just do. Please R&R!**

**PS. Yes, there is something strange about Abraxas, but I'm probably NEVER going to write what it is. I'll let you use your imagination =)**


	11. Pepper

**This feels a bit short, but I can assure you I've not given up. I'm currently working on chapter 14 and this one here is chapter 11 so... I'm ahead, which I like to be. I've just been busy. Life's crazy at the moment! But things are calming and I'm hoping to chill out and do a fair bit of writing this week.**

**I'm also relying on Mobile Broadband for the time being which can be unpredictable so... bare with me for a little while.**

**Oh and while I have your attention, I mentioned last time there is something odd about Abraxas. In answer to any questions - voiced or otherwise - yes I do know what the 'odd thing' is. I just can't seem to think up a relevant place/situation/etc to fit it in...**

***stares at internet's 'disconnecting' alert* Urgh... you make me rage!**

**Disclaimer - I do NOT own Death Note!**

* * *

L opened the door to Morning's room without knocking. He'd let the conversation between her and Beyond play through, and as soon as the connection was cut off he'd leapt from his chair and almost ran to the elevator. He was relieved to find the demon sat against the wall, strapping a splint to a protesting bat's wing. The detective's eye instantly fell on the debris of the camera at Morning's side.

"You took your time," She said without looking up.

"I was curious." He took a few steps into the room and stopped oposite her, his hands in his pockets. He glanced out of the open window. "Did he say anything else after he cut us off?"

"No."

The abruptness of her answer told him she was lying. He let out a sigh and fell into a squat, trying to catch her eye and failing.

"I'm sorry, Morning, but after hearing all that I have a lot of questions I need to ask you."

"Ask away."

"You said he is in a lot of trouble. What kind of trouble exactly?"

"I can't answer that."

L paused, nibbling his thumb nail.

"You can't answer that? You told me to ask my questions."

"Yes, but I never said I'd answer them." She stood up and placed Abraxas into his spot on the curtain rail.

"Are you being stubborn?"

She fixed her violet eyes on his. "You're the one who bugged me. You didn't trust me, and you still don't."

"Morning, it's hard to trust anyone at the moment. And after Ryusei's secretive behaviour I am very concerned about her."

Morning snorted and looked away. "She doesn't understand what mess she's found herself in, laising with that creature."

"Well, he hasn't harmed her at least." L lowered his hand from his face and met Morning's eye again. "If you want to regain my trust, answer my questions."

Morning sighed. "I can't."

A sigh of exasperation or sadness? He couldn't tell. But he needed to get the information out of her somehow. He stood up and moved past her onto the balcony.

"There was another murder earlier today."

"Oh?"

"Yes. A Whitney Knight." He glanced back at her over his shoulder. "Do you think he's responsible for these murders?"

Morning span to look at him. "What? Beyond?"

L nodded.

She shook her head. "No. It's not his style."

"Are you sure about that?"  
"Yes," She said bluntly. "After he gained immortality, he stopped killing. He didn't need to, and he still doesn't."

"And you believe that?"

"A hundred percent."

L's eyes widened. "Well. Then maybe you can clarify what trouble he's in?"

Morning sighed and turned away from him. "I'd like you to leave."

L followed her back into the room. "Why are you keeping this from me?"

She spun on him, almost causing him to leap back, but he maintained his composure.

"Because if I don't, you'll get in the way!"

He didn't respond – not because of her words, but because of the distressed look in her eye.

She turned away from him once more and gave him a dismissive wave of the hand. "Just... stick to solving the 'Wonderland Murders'."

Without a word, and with an extended list of unasked questions in his mind, he left her room.

* * *

Ryusei yawned for what must have been the fiftieth time since they had left the ICPO. Morning tried to ignore it, but her concern for the girl's wellbeing was threatening to add yet another problem to her already problem-filled mind.

She looked back down at the information they had for the most recent victim:

'Whitney Knight. Twenty nine years old. Accountant.' All that followed after that was the address. Before they had left that morning, L had shown them a list that Matsuda, Aizawa and Ide had put together, listing all the characters from _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass_. The name was uncanilly similar to the White Knight. Morning had expressed extreme exasperation at the corniness these crimes were taking. Mogi had been currently in the process of filtering out every single inhabitant in London who's name was similar to the list of characters. What had annoyed her even more was when Ryusei told L that each and every one of the victims so far had been born in Oxford. As it turned out, L had already discovered this and had told Mogi to narrow his search results down to Oxford-born inhabitants only.

So... L was already on top form with this investigation, and his distrust of Morning and Ryusei was showing. The girl had no idea he didn't trust her, or, if she did, she was keeping it very quiet.

Luckily, Whitney Knight's house wasn't too far from the ICPO. It was on a pleasant looking street where each house had a front garden, situated about half way down the street. Morning plucked the keys from her pocket and opened the door. She had been found in her bedroom, and, as they entered the large front-facing room, it was found exactly as she expected it. Spotless.

"Okay, Ryusei," She said as she sat heavily on the bed. "You seem to be good at this. What is she? A professional horse rider maybe? A Javelin Champion? Related to someone with a Knighthood?"

Ryusei yawned again as she paced around the room, sleepily checking the surfaces of Whitney's dresser and shelves.

"I don't know yet."

Morning sighed. "Can't we just live with the fact her name is very close to 'white knight'?"

"That's not what L wants," Ryusei said as she rifled through the top drawer of the woman's dresser. "He wants to know if there's a birth certificate like the last crime scenes."

Morning grunted a response and left the bedroom, deciding to inspect the living room. Much to her surprise, she found the living room adorned with bookcases.

"I guess she liked to read?"

With too many books to look over, she tired after the first two shelves and decided to inspect the kitchen. Opening the cupboards revealed nothing out of the ordinary. After a few minutes of perusal, a movement in the doorway alerted her to someone's presence. She looked up to find a young woman standing in the kitchen doorway.

"You don't look like the police," She said.

"I'm an agent," Morning answered. "I've been sent here to investigate."

"They send the police for that," The woman continued. "Or a detective."

"Then think of me as a detective." She turned her attention back to the cupboards.

"Do you have any identification on you?"

Morning snorted. She did, but she wasn't in any mood to play this woman's games.

"I'm a good friend of Whitney's," The woman said. "She was quiet and peaceful, never wanted to hurt anybody. Considering you're not going to prove yourself, I have no choice but to suspect you."

"I'm here with my assistant," The demon told her without looking back. "We'll be gone when we've found clues."

She heard the woman move away. Good, she'd left. She turned away from the cupboards and opened a door in the wall. The pantry. It didn't have much to show except a lot of herbs and sauces. She picked them up, absently glancing over the labels until she came to a jar of peppercorns and a grinder. Something fluttered to the floor. She picked it up, then heard a shout. She raced from the pantry to find Ryusei bolting down the stairs with the woman hot on her heels.

"I told you I'm an investigator!"

The girl had the threatening posture of a cornered cat. Stuffing the contents of her hands into her pocket, Morning joined Ryusei's side and pushed the woman out of the way.

"Here." She stuffed her ID into her hand.

The woman glanced at it and threw it on the floor.

"Fine. I won't report you. But _she_ should have brought her own ID with her."

The woman marched from the house, her heels clicking loudly on the stone flags.

Morning put her hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Well she was far from pleasant."

Ryusei sobbed.

"Did you really forget your ID?"  
She nodded. "I just wasn't thinking. I left it on the coffee table."

Morning sighed. She steered the girl from the house and locked the door.

"I don't know about you, Ryusei, but I've had enough of all this now."  
She didn't respond, but the agent assumed she'd nodded her agreement. Or yawned it.

"What was she called? We could always report her to L."

Ryusei looked up at her. "I saw her name. Sandra Peswik, I think."

Morning nodded and put her hands into her coat pocket. She grasped the two objects she'd grabbed and lifted them out where she could see them. A pepper grinder and a folded yellow piece of paper.

"You have to be kidding me?"

She unfolded it, and there it was. A birth certificate.

* * *

**I love Morning's sarcastic attitude at times. She's fun to write. Anyway, please R&R!**


	12. Problem

**Well I've been working away on this story, and I finally got this chapter looked at by an extra set of eyes to spot mistakes etc, which is why there was a bit of a delay uploading this. I'm not sure how many chapters in total there are going to be. I'm looking for ideas for the next few chapters (16 onwards). Alrighty!**

**Disclaimer - I do NOT own Death Note!**

* * *

Morning leant back in her chair as she waited for L to give his opinion. He stared at the pepper grinder and birth certificate without uttering a word, nibbling on a cupcake. Growing agitated with his silence, she finally decided to break it.

"Well?"

L didn't even glance at her.

"It's pepper. And the Birth Certificate, as predicted, shows she was born in Oxford."

"Yes, but what's so significant about pepper?"

He lifted a sheet of paper from his desk and handed it to her.

"A list of characters from _Alices Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass_," He said. "I believe you will find the Dutchess' cook who loved to use pepper."

Morning tutted. "This killer has left nothing out has he?"

"He's becoming predictable. I currently have our four officers and Watari seeking out the homes of everyone with a significant name born in Oxford. They are to fit hidden cameras outside all homes so we can track down this killer, and hopefully catch him in the act. All being well," He took a bite of his cake, "we can also save their lives."

"So we're getting somewhere." Morning failed to hide the relief in her voice. She handed the list back to L. "I actually want to see this case brought to a close."

"You aren't the only one." He tucked the list into the case file. "It has been quite a puzzle."

Morning nodded and stood up. "To be honest, L, I really did hope you were wrong about the Wonderland link. It just seemed so... farfetched."

L leant back in his chair and looked up at her. "It was rather painfully obvious. However, their reason as to _why_ they've linked them all together is not."

"A cry for attention?"

"Maybe. But again, there's _why_." He looked away and reached for another cake. "What do they want?"

Morning sighed and turned to leave. "I'm going to call it a day. I have something I need to do."

As she passed him, she froze as he grabbed her wrist. She looked down at him, meeting his eyes and a sudden warmth shot up her arm. Alarm bells ringing in her mind, she jerked her hand away.

"Are you willing to answer my questions yet?" He asked.

She snapped her eyes away from his. "No. And I've told you why."

"I won't get involved. You have my word."  
She sighed. "Listen. If I feel it's necessary to tell you, I will. But it isn't."

Before he could press her any more, she walked swiftly to the elevator. Relief washed over her as the doors closed, followed by the cold realisation of the consequences that may follow breaking L's curse. Would he be human again, or an angel?

* * *

Ryusei found herself once again in that abandoned warehouse surrounded by bodies. The faces of people she knew stared lifelessly up at her. Stepping over each one, her pulse racing, she headed towards the only exit. A voice called her name.

"Ryusei!"

It wasn't the same voice she was used to hearing, however. Looking up from the carnage, she saw a female figure enter the room. Her name was clear above her head – 'Sandra Peswik'. As her eyes fixed on that name, fear flooded her veins and the numbers span down to zero. The woman slumped to the floor, motionless.

Ryusei screamed.

Sitting bolt upright, the covers went flying. The small kitten leapt up from the foot of the bed, its long fur on end and its yellow eyes like saucers.

"Ryusei!" Near placed a hand on her shoulder and her breathing slowed to a calm.

"It wasn't my mum that time," She said, rocking back and forth.

"Then who was it?"

"The woman from across the street." She looked at him. "She'd come to find out why Morning and I were investigating the victim's house, and she wasn't very nice to me."

"Then that was probably why." Near twirled his hair. "I wouldn't worry about it. Real life can have strange effects on dreams."

She nodded and lay back down. "Still, it wasn't a nice dream."

Near wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close, kissing her hair. "I know."

She took in a slow, deep breath to calm her nerves, but the thought of sleep still frightened her. She glanced over at the alarm clock, its red numbers shining brightly from its display. '1:00 am'. It was a long time until she could justify getting up.

* * *

Morning had been up all night, and was still none the wiser. She sighed and sat back, staring at the laptop screen. She'd moved her desk to the balcony window, more for the comfort from the view of the night sky and the company the bats provided. She had made a list of every curse she could find, complete with descriptions of what it did and her estimated level of success. None of them seemed to rival the Celestial 'Blessing' or Demonic Damning. Not to mention most of them were probably lies, rumors or ficticious.

"Evil Eye, Intertility, Good Luck, Bad Luck. For goodness sake, even Sickness is listed as a curse." She kicked her feet onto the desk and folded her arms behind her head. "Other than 'good luck', I don't really want to try any of those on L. Not that any of them would succeed."

Abraxas fixed his tiny eyes on hers and sent irritated images into her mind.

"I know. Your wing is bothering you. But breaking L's arm is not going to remove his curse, no matter how many times you suggest it."

She stood up and folded the laptop shut. It was about time to head to the office anyway. Hopefully a change of scene would give her a clearer insight.

The cafeteria was filled with its regular breakfast team, minus one. L. She looked around, her mind spinning with confusion. It wasn't like him to miss breakfast. Her mind instantly leapt to the worst case scenario. Deciding to take her toast 'to go', she swiftly moved back to the elevator, brushing off Matsuda's 'good morning' and questions as to where she was going.

"Oh please don't say he's got there first," She moaned, leaning back on the glass wall of the elevator. There was a pause on the fourth floor as Ryusei joined her.

"You look like a panda," Morning said.

The girl didn't reply, just yawned.

When the ping resounded, Morning ran out onto the office floor to find the detective still stationed at his desk. She breathed a sigh of relief and asked, in a slightly accusatory tone, "Why aren't you at breakfast?"

"I am," He said, indicating a plate of pancakes.

She sighed and sat down next to him, taking a bite out of her toast. The sickly-sweet taste of strawberry jam filled her mouth and she almost gagged, dropping the toast onto his desk.

"Are you alright?"

She looked up at him, his dark eyes now fixed on hers. "Uhm... yes. I just don't like strawberry jam."

"Then why do you have it on your toast?"

"I didn't pay attention when I picked it up." She grabbed a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped away the sticky mess. "So, why are you so busy?"

"There's been another murder."

Her eyes snapped back up to him. He was now focused on the computer.

"Another one?" Ryusei asked. "But the last one only happened two days ago."

"There hasn't been any pattern so far," L reminded her. "Anyway, look at this." He indicated the computer screen and the two women gathered around it.

The news article stated another death, but it didn't appear to be linked in with the 'Wonderland Murders'. The victim was a woman called Sandra Peswik, cause of death unknown.

"It's not the same person," Morning said.

"Or is it?" L looked at her. "This woman lived across the street from Whitney Knight. She apparently dropped dead while she was on her way home from the pub with her friends."

Ryusei gasped, taking a step back. Morning looked up at her. A silent message passed between them. It was the same woman who had confronted them and frightened Ryusei.

"The only thing I can suggest," L began, "Is that the person responsible for this murder has the same powers as Ryusei. If that is the case, and they are linked, my pointer stops at Beyond."

"No," Ryusei said, turning to face him. "It wasn't Beyond... it was me."

L fixed his eyes on her. "Are you saying you killed this woman?"

"It was an accident..." Tears welled in her eyes and she chewed the hem of her sleeve. "I keep having nightmares where I kill my mother... but last night... it was her. That woman... she was in my dream and I killed her."

"So you're sleep killing," Morning said, sitting back in her chair. "Interesting."

"It's not interesting!" She cried. "I was scared to sleep as it was!"

"That explains your tiredness."  
L spooned a forkful of pancakes into his mouth. "Well, if you are the one responsible for this death then I can remove the link to the 'Wonderland Murders'. However, this is quite serious. I'll hold this back from the investigation and let it continue as a 'mystery', but I think you should see the work psychiatrist about these nightmares."

Ryusei fell back into a chair and nodded.

"You do need to sleep," L told her.

She looked up at him. "But what if I kill someone else?"

L paused for a moment, his dark eyes fixed on Ryusei's. "I don't know. Maybe the psychiatrist can get to the bottom of what's playing on your mind? If you can address the problem, the dreams might go away."

Ryusei swallowed loudly. "Maybe I'll just talk to Near. I'm too scared to tell the psychiatrist I killed someone in my sleep."

"All members of the ICPO know of your gift."

"Okay." She stood up and slowly left the office.

"Are you sure about this?" Morning asked L. "Sending her to see a psychiatrist?"

L sighed. "It seems the best option. Right now, I can't afford another problem."

An email alert flashed up on the screen titled 'urgent'. He cliked it and was immediately greeted by another case file.

"They're sending you these quickly now," Morning said, sitting back in her chair.

"Speaking of problems," He said, looking at her. "Henry McFerris isn't the name of a Wonderland character."

* * *

**Please R&R! =D**


	13. Oysters

**_IMPORTANT AN _I have stupidly managed to overwrite the file after spending days on chapters 14 and 15 so I've lost everything. I'm gutted, and after trying two different data recovery programs neither have proved successful and I've resolved to the cold reality that no recovery tool on the market can undo the process of replacing data via a rewrite. Never again will I ignore the warning 'replace existing file?' again. More fool me for not activating my mac's Time Machine function and splashing out for an external hard drive when I had the money...**

**So please bare with me while I try to rewrite these two MASSIVE chapters... my proofer didn't even get chance to read over them for me so I'm completely alone on remembering every key event. There will be a bit of a delay until I get my head sorted enough for things to start flowing again. Man... they were awesome too =(**

**In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this one...**

**Disclaimer - I do NOT own Death Note! Nor do I own the lyrics to Funker Vogt's 'Red Queen'**

* * *

Ryusei fidgetted in her seat. The Psychiatrist was flicking through the notes she'd made after the girl had told her everything... well, as much as she was willing to. She'd refused to relay her past experiences from the orphanages she'd been passed around, but she felt the information she'd given to the doctor was enough.

"Well," The psychiatrist looked up at her, brushing her ginger hair back from her face. "What you have told me is quite concerning, especially as these dreams seem to be out of your power. But you can't avoid sleeping; it will make you ill."

"So what do I do?" Ryusei stuffed her sleeve into her mouth.

"Well, I'd like to do a sleep study on you and see if I can pinpoint the cause."

The girl chewed on her sleeve, her eyes flickering around the room.

"I can see that makes you anxious," The doctor said. "You would have to sleep in here, unless you're happy for me to be in your appartment?"

Ryusei swallowed audibly. The sheer thought of having to sleep made her break into a cold sweat. She shook her head. "No."

"So you're happy to sleep in here?"

"No. I don't want to do it." She fixed her golden eyes on the Psychiatrist, trying to avoid focusing on the name above her head. She knew it anyway. It had been the first thing she'd noticed, Carol-Anne Marcov, but she felt, if she didn't focus on them, she wouldn't do any harm.

"If you don't do the test, we can't pinpoint the problem."

Ryusei looked away, rocking back and forth in her seat. No psychiatrist would be able to pinpoint the source of her problem. It wasn't like sleep walking or snoring, it was far more than that. Shuffling off her seat, she made her way to the door.

"Are you giving up?"

She looked back at the psychiatrist and shrugged.

"I just don't think you can help me. I'm just wasting your time."

She left, closing the door behind her. Pausing in the hallway, she sighed. She didn't even know why she'd bothered. Maybe she just wanted to humor L and Near, to prove she was acting on it. But she didn't need a psychiatrist. She needed someone who knew what she was talking about. Someone with first hand experience. She chewed on her sleeve again, glancing up and down the hallway. She needed Beyond.

* * *

Henry McFerris certainly wasn't the name of a Wonderland character. Morning had sat with L as they both tried to rearrange the letters of his name, wondering if it was some kind of anagram like Archie Chest. It wasn't. His name had no link whatsoever with the stories. That alone set him apart from all the other victims. His body had been found in exactly the same way – heart removed, drained of all blood, with an Ace of Hearts on his chest. The room was clean, immaculately clean, and no clues were found.

That was where Morning came in. She was to go to the house and investigate, but this time she was going alone. L had suggested Ryusei had some time off to recover from the shock of Sandra Peswik's death. Morning couldn't decide if she preferred to be alone or not. On the one hand, she wouldn't have someone trying to engage her in conversation. On the other, she wouldn't have Ryusei's incredibly good eye for detail.

The house was situated on the opposite side of the ICPO to where Whitney Knight lived. So the two weren't linked in any way, and it could be assumed they didn't know each other. So far, none of the victims knew each other. The information she had on Henry McFerris had no clear indication to Wonderland either. He was a middle-aged man, and had worked as a chef for the past twentyfive years. He was the manager of his own restaurant which specialised in Thai food. None of that remotely pointed to the stories.

With a sigh, Morning entered the house and was instantly stumped. It had a rather drab décor, but was very tidy, though whether or not this was his own living habits or the killer's attempts to leave no clear clues was unknown. She pulled the case file from her bag and looked over it once more. The photo, morbid as it was, showed a man in his fifties who was quite overweight, with no distinguishable features that may aide her in solving this riddle. Stuffing it back in her bag, she went straight to the kitchen where he'd been found. She'd tried to argue with L that this was merely because he happened to be there when the killer found him, but L had tried to make a point that it was because the man was a chef.

A chef...

She looked around, trying to think like the Detective. What would he instantly examine? The cooker? The pantry? The cupboards? She'd done that in the last victim's home and come out with the two clues they needed, a pepper grinder and a birth certificate. However, what would a chef need? She opened a cupboard full of pots and pans and pulled them out. Nothing. Stuffing them haphazardly back in, she checked the pantry. Jars of pickled eggs and onions, cockles, mussels, dried fish... she closed the door. The smell was nauseating. She'd never been one for seafood. Checking the freezer only confirmed her theory that this man must like his seafood as it was full of prawns, haddock, plaice and other various aquatic delicacies.

She stood back from the freezer so she was in the middle of the kitchen and looked around. What else would a chef need? Utensils – they were all attached to the wall above the large, gas oven. An apron and hat – his uniform was most likely at the restaurant, however he had various aprons hanging on a hook by the door. A glance over those showed nothing significant. Cook books? She looked around again. There were none in the kitchen.

She moved to the living room where she was greeted by a squat bookcase against the far wall. It was crammed with books on various subjects, but most notably cook books for foods from different countries. She pulled out the book on Thai food and flicked through it. No birth certificate. With a sigh, she sat on the floor and stared at the book case. Indian, Italian, Pizza, Chinese, Fresh Pasta, Japanese... one book did stand out. Seafood. He had a lot of seafood. As she pulled it out, a slimmer book slipped out from between the pages. Oysters. That was something she hadn't seen in the freezer or pantry. She tugged it from the shelf and her eye fell on a small scrap of yellow sticking out from the pages.

"You have to be kidding me?" She stared down at the Birth Certificate. Just like the rest, he was born in Oxford. But what relevance did a chef have in Wonderland? Especially one who liked seafood? She flicked through the seafood cook book. The pages that had held the book on oysters had been dog-eared. Both were on oyster dishes.

Stuffing the two books into her bag, she stood up. Maybe L could shine some light onto the relevance of oysters? As she left the house, a voice made her freeze.

"Morning!"

She turned to face the speaker. Light was leaning against the wall, in broad daylight where anyone could see him. Luckily, there was no one around.

"What are you doing here?" She growled, locking the door behind her.

"Waiting for you."

"Any reason?"

"I was wondering how you were getting on." The angel gave her a smile. "I know this ordeal is bothering you."

"Well, if you really must know, it's not going very well." She made to walk away, but stopped. With a sigh, she turned to face him. "I am wondering something. If I do manage to break his curse, will he be human or revert back to an angel?"

Light scratched his head, a quizical expression spreading across his face. "I actually don't know. What made you think that?"

Morning shrugged. "Because he still has some angelic qualities. He grabbed my wrist yesterday and heat shot up my arm."

Light exploded with laughter, almost startling the demon. She felt herself bristle and she growled.

"What's so funny?"

"You think he still possesses angelic qualities because of that?" Light wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "Oh, you're naïve at times."

"Well, angels can't touch demons. And vice versa," She told him. "Like when you grabbed my collar the last time we met."

"Morning," Light reached out and grabbed her hand.

Searing hot pain shot up her wrist and she yelped, snatching her hand away. She rubbed it with her free hand, readying herself to spit vile words at the angel. But words halted in her mouth as her hand brushed fur. She looked down at her wounded hand – a claw covered with red fur, some of which had been singed off, the fine bones and membanes of her wrist poking out from her coat sleeve.

"See?" Light said, indicating with his other hand.

She looked up at him, his hand now blue and coated with frost. He tucked it under his jacket.

"If L had any angelic qualities at all, you'd know about it."

"And you had to prove it this way?" She shook her burned hand and swiftly regretted it, wincing at the pain that shot up her arm. "I sure hope this isn't permanent."

"It isn't. You'll revert back in no time."

"So." Morning moved over to the wall and leant on it, hiding her wounded hand under her coat. "This might sound stupid, but if it wasn't angel fire then what was it?"  
Light joined her side and looked at her. The expression in his eyes made her feel like she was being scrutinized under a microscope.

"Are you perhaps harboring feelings for L?"

"What?!" She took a step away from him, her eyes wide. "Don't be ridiculous! I'm a demon! We don't have feelings like that!"  
Light chuckled. "You've always tried to come across as heartless."

She paused. "What do you mean 'tried'?"

"Do you think we can see nothing from Celestria? Morning, I've been watching both you and L for the past few years. If you were completely heartless, you'd never have taken Ryusei under your wing. You wouldn't have worried about her when Beyond showed up. And you honestly wouldn't care if he wanted to damn L or not. Let's face it, you said you want to save him. You don't want him to die. Would you really care about that if you were heartless?"

Morning growled and looked away. "I've been around humans for too long. Their emotions are rubbing off on me."

Light smirked at her. "You also overreacted when I asked if you had feelings for L. That was a clear giveaway."

She covered her face with her free hand and groaned. "I don't know how to handle this. I'm going back to headquarters."

"Do you want me to walk you?"

She shook her head, avoiding the angel's eye. "No. You'll probably just want to laugh at me some more."

* * *

As Morning approached the ICPO, she looked up at the balconies almost out of habit. Her own was too high up to really get any detail, but a figure leaning over the balcony of the fourth floor caught her eye. A man with a mass of wild, black hair was looking down at her. He gave her a wave and her heart leapt into her throat.

"Damn you, Light. You've got me thinking."

If L was on the fourth floor with Ryusei and Near, he wasn't going to be at his desk. She went to the elevator and keyed in the number for her own floor. She could never be bothered with the locking system for Ryusei's appartment. The easiest way, as far as she was concerned, was to go from her own floor. Leaning back against the wall of the elevator, she examined her hand. At least it looked human again, if a little sore in places. Not wanting to answer any questions, she tucked it back inside her sleeve. When the elevator pinged and released her, she went through her room, threw open the window and leapt from her balcony, landing with what she hoped was grace right next to the detective.

"I'm back," She said as she straightened up.

Dressed as ever in a white shirt and jeans, he smiled at her.

"I can see that. So, what did you find?"  
Keeping her burned hand tucked under her sleeve, she handed him the cook books and birth certificate with the other. He took them and went back into Ryusei's flat, making himself at home as he hopped onto the sofa in his trademark position.

"So, Henry McFerris was a connoisseur of oysters," He said, flicking through the pages.

"What do you make of that?" Morning asked as she sat next to him. "What business do oysters have in Wonderland?"  
"A significant one." He fixed his dark eyes on hers briefly, causing her to look away. "The Walrus and the Carpenter lured Oysters away from their home in order to eat them."

Morning shook her head. "This killer has thought everything through hasn't he?"

"Definitely. So, they're not all going to have significant names now." He nibbled his thumbnail, staring at the wall deep in thought.

Morning looked over her shoulder around the appartment. "Where's Ryusei?"

"She fell asleep so I put her into bed."

She nodded. "Well, she certainly needs the sleep. Do you know how her visit with the psychiatrist went?"

"She was asleep when I got here, so I didn't get chance to ask." He turned to look at her again, but she avoided his eye. "Any more news about Beyond?"

"Not really." She leant back in the sofa. "Luckily I've not seen him since he threatened me."

"Luckily?"

"For him, yes."

She bristled at the thought of the crazed man, the way he'd wounded Abraxas then decided to feed her threats.

The detective leant forward, picked up a cup of what appeared to be tea-soaked sugar off the table, and sipped it. "So, Beyond had better be careful then?"

Morning looked at him. Something didn't seem right in what he'd asked, maybe the tone or some underlying implication she couldn't put her finger on.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"What I mean is you can't assume something so willingly. It's like these hidden puzzles the killer leaves behind. You assumed every victim would have a significant name, when the clues actually aren't always going to be right under your nose."

"You're speaking in riddles."

"That's because things aren't always obvious, Little Bat." He gave her a grin. "You need to look closely at the details. You arrived back here at the ICPO, saw me on the balcony and immeditely assumed I was L when, in actual fact, the man you wish to speak to is downstairs."

Morning went to grab him by the collar, but he dived out of the way, scurrying towards the window. He stood up and faced her, his hands folded behind his back. He laughed.

"You're too predictable."

She had a lot of words with which she wanted to retaliate, but none of them were forming in her mouth.

Beyond gave her a grin as he reversed out onto the balcony, then said in a slow, eerie, singsong voice:

"Suddenly you realise nothing is what it seems. You are beyond the looking glass, like Alice and the Red Queen."

He backflipped over the rail, vanishing out of sight.

Morning fell back into the sofa, her head in her hands. Light's words had got to her and she'd let her guard down. Not only did she now want to beat some sense into Beyond for deliberately tricking her, she now wanted to hunt down Light and give him a swift kick to the shins.

* * *

**Poor Morning =( she's all messed up in the head.**

**With the musical inspiration that's helped me to come up with this and build on the characters, I have to say I think Beyond has been listening to way too much Darkwave and Aggrotech. The reference at the end is a tribute to a song by Funker Vogt called Red Queen. Check it out. It's as eerie as! **


	14. Torment

**OMG it took me four days, more or less working flat out, to reproduce those two chapters I was foolish enough to overwrite! Anyway, I've done it and here is one of them. They were so long to begin with, and this is over 3,500 words alone! I am SO RELIEVED I've completed them again. I'm having a brain-break now. So... rather than being two chapters behind with my updates, I am only one behind now. However, I am too excited (and anxious) that I decided I'd just submit this one which was more tricky to re-write perchance I perform any noobish mistakes once more. Hopefully that won't be the case.**

**I'll leave you to read it now. This was one of my fave chapters before I erased it. It's still one of my faves, and in some cases came out better. I hope you'll enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer - once again, I do NOT own Death Note or any of its characters!**

* * *

Ryusei jumped out of bed with a yell, the nightmare clear and fresh in her mind. She'd done it again, she was sure of it. The hint of ginger hair she had seen was enough to make her realise who it was before the name came into view. Then...

She shuddered and looked around her dark room, every shadow seeming to reach out to her. She was alone. Realising Near was probably working late, she scooped up the kitten cowering near her feet and left the flat to head to the monitor room.

Stepping into the elevator, she let the dream play through her head once more. A bitter taste filled her mouth and she clutched the kitten to her chest. As the elevator came to a halt, the ping rang out and she stepped out onto that familiar, narrow hallway with its lone door. Punching in the code, the doors slid open to reveal the pristine white room full of blinking monitors, and Near sprawled in the middle of the floor surrounded by toy traintracks. She overstepped the passing wooden train and slumped down next to him with the kitten in her lap.

"I had another nightmare."

"I thought so." He watched the train pass by.

She was silent for a while, deep in thought. Her mind was filled with various worries and she let out a long sigh. He glanced up at her then and she bit back a sob.

"I've done it again."

Sitting up, he looked at her and his hand went to his hair, doing that twirling she'd grown so accustomed to.

"You killed someone?"

She nodded, letting tears flow from her eyes. "The psychiatrist I saw yesterday."

Near nodded and looked away from her. "I see."

"I don't even know why. She didn't even do anything to upset me. I thought I had control over this. What's wrong with me?" She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I honestly don't know."

She glanced up at him. He was watching the train again, clearly deep in thought.

"Ryu-chan. Are you even sure you've actually killed her and it wasn't just a dream?"

She stared at him, but he wouldn't meet her eye. With a sigh, she looked down at her hands and nodded.

"I must have. It happened exactly the same as last time."

"But you don't know for certain."

"Then I need to find out!" She looked up at him again. "Can we contact her?"

"It is three-thirty in the morning. There's every possibility she won't answer her phone." He twirled his hair for a moment. "You could let L know. He might be able to send someone round to her house to check."

"But... if she won't answer her phone, she might not answer her door."

"Watari has extra keys for every living-out member working here."

Her eyes widened.

"Safety precautions," Near added.

Ryusei fidgetted and the kitten leapt off her lap. She watched it as it followed after the toy train, pawing at it.

"L is going to be so upset with me."

"He knows you can't help it."

"He might know that," She swallowed drily, stifling tears. "But surely he's going to be worried about me harming any more members of the team." She sobbed. "And everyone's going to be frightened of me again."

He didn't comment, his eyes fixed on the passing train.

"Are you scared of me?"

He looked at her then, meeting her eyes for a rare moment and causing her heart to flutter. "Of course not." He pulled her towards him, running his hand over her hair. "What makes you ask that?"

"I was worried," She sobbed, wrapping her arms around him. "And you weren't in the flat. I thought you might be staying out of my way."

"No. I noticed you were asleep and I didn't want to wake you. You've not had much recently." He kissed her hair. "I love you, Ryu-chan. Don't think like that."

She nodded. "I know."

"We'll speak to L. I'm sure we can get to the bottom of this, okay?"

She nodded again, but she knew L wouldn't be able to do anything. She knew exactly who might be able to help her, but the question remained – would he?

* * *

Morning stepped out of the elevator into the office, the events of the previous night still swirling around her head. Her mind was a jumble of chaos and confusion, and finding L pacing back and forth next to his desk didn't help matters. With an inward sigh, she moved past him and dropped heavily into her own chair.

"Something bothering you?" She asked.

"I received a very distressing phonecall last night," He said, coming to a halt. "We've lost one of our team members."

"Oh?" She looked up at him.

"Yes. Carol-Anne Marcov."

She gave him a blank stare.

"The psychiatrist."

Morning nodded. "So I take it the treatment didn't go well."

"You could say that." L started pacing again. "She did nothing to distress Ryusei, other than suggest she take a sleep study. A simple procedure. However, she fell victim to Ryusei's most recent nightmare."

Morning leant on her desk and rubbed her temples. '_It seems she's out of control. If this goes on, we may have to kill her._' She glanced up at the detective. '_There's no way L or Near would allow it, however. At least not yet._'

She sighed. "So what are you going to do with her?"

"She's on sabbattical at the moment, until we manage to help her." He halted again. "This means we're one investigator down." He sighed. "Everything's happening all at once. First these murders start up, then Ryusei's nightmares."

He paused and Morning followed his gaze to the calendar on the far wall. She felt her heart twist.

"I guess you could say it's rather ..."

"Bad timing." She cut him off and looked away, seemingly finishing his sentence for him. Her muddled thoughts consumed her once more and she sank down into her chair.

"Did you find anything on Henry McFerris?"

L's voice dragged her back out of her reverie and she turned to look at him, now squatting on his chair with the recent case file open. She nodded and pulled the two cook books and birth certificate out of her bag. Taking them carefully, he gave them a once over.

"Oysters. Interesting."

"What's interesting?" Matsuda's voice sounded through the office, rather too cheerful for Morning's liking.

The young officer joined them, followed by Aizawa, Mogi and Ide. His eyes fell on the cook books.

"Oh, the chef?"

L nodded. "It seems Henry McFerris was a connoisseur of oysters."

"But what part do oysters play in Wonderland?" Matsuda asked, raising an eyebrow.

"A significant one," L answered.

"Yes, the Walrus and the Carpenter lured oysters away from their home in order to eat them," Morning groaned.

L leant back in his chair. "It was a story told by Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

"_'I weep for you,' the Walrus said:_

_ 'I deeply sympathise.'_

_ With sobs and tears he sorted out_

_ Those of the largest size,_

_ Holding his pocket-handkerchief_

_ Before his streaming eyes._

_ 'O Oysters,' said the Carpenter,_

_ 'You've had a pleasant run!_

_ Shall we be trotting home again?'_

_ But answer came there none -_

_ And this was scarcely odd, because_

_ They'd eaten every one._"

"Oh I remember that story!" Matsuda beamed from his desk. He looked down at a sheet of paper and frowned. "We never listed Oysters as a character. The Walrus and the Carpenter... this killer isn't leaving anything out is he?"

"It seems that way," L said thoughtfully. "It would seem he is now not focusing only on names. He's also targetting careers and hobbies."

"Well what are we going to do?" Aizawa asked. "We've set cameras up outside the homes of everyone who has a significant name born in Oxford. Should we interview everyone Oxford-born to find out what they do, and set up cameras if they are a risk?"

"As useful as that would be, it would only create a panic. We need to remain low-key." L sighed, unwrapping a cupcake. "We may have to set up cameras around the homes of everyone born in Oxford."

"That could take forever," Matsuda protested. "London's massive!"

"If it needs to be done, we'll do it," Aizawa told him.

"You both make valid points," L said. "It would take a long time, but it needs to be done. I'll contact Watari, and the five of you can track down every Oxford born inhabitant and set up cameras to monitor their homes."

The officers nodded and set to work.

Morning glanced around the office and sighed, rising to her feet.

"Where are you going?"

She looked round to find L watching her and she met his eyes. Her stomach flipped nauseatingly.

"I'm... going to take the day off. I'm not feeling too well."

With that, she left the office.

* * *

Ryusei sat staring blankly at the television, oblivious to the colourful cartoon now providing nothing more than a mind numbing drone. She had no idea what she was going to do now she wasn't working, and goodness knew how long this routine was going to go on for. Days? Weeks? Months? And it was all because her abilities seemed to have sprang randomly out of her control in the most abstract of ways.

She let out a long sigh and petted the kitten, causing it to purr deeply. It was her only comfort at the moment while Near worked extra long hours in order to view the vast amounts of CCTV footage they were soon to recieve.

Not having much to do, she found herself growing bored very quickly and her mind was free to wander. However, she was tired of worrying and feeling rather mentally drained. The rhythmic purrs from the kitten lulled her slowly into a light slumber where the images from her dream mishamshed with the script from the cartoon.

A sudden shift in the sofa woke her up and she span around to find Beyond leaning over her with a wicked grin.

"You left the window open," He said.

She fell away from him, her heart speeding up in her chest and she worried briefly if he could hear it. Telling herself she was being stupid, she put on a calm composure and relaxed into the chair. She did want to talk to him afterall.

"You should be more careful," He continued, a mischeivous glint in his eye. "Anyone could get in."

"You seem to be able to get in here if it's open or not."

He fell back from her into a squat, plucking the protesting kitten from her and dropping it in his lap. Sitting up, Ryusei watched as he held the wriggling kitten in place and petted it's head. Once it had settled, he pulled a jar of jam out from under his tailcoat and fixed his dark eyes on hers.

"Just so you know, I found this in your fridge."

She nodded. "I had it brought in for you."

"I appreciate it." He opened the jar and began spooning it out with his hand.

Ryusei looked away and noticed the television had been turned off. Deciding not to question it, she let her eyes wander around the room.

"You're not working."

She sighed. "I'm currently on 'sick leave'." She added air quotes for emphasis.

"Oh?" He inclined his head on one side.

"Yes, I have a problem." She looked over at him. "I was actually hoping you could help me with it."

He paused mid-lick. "Really? What kind of problem?"

"It's..."

"Is it a female problem?"  
"No, it's..."

"Because you might want to talk to Morning."

"Are you going to let me ask you or not!?"

He leant back in the chair and motioned for her to continue.

Ryusei took a steadying breath to calm herself. "I've been having nightmares."

From the following silence, she thought he might actually understand what she meant. He placed the jam on the table and licked his hands clean.

"Elaborate."

"Well..." She chewed the hem of her jacket. "I find myself in a room surrounded by bodies. Then someone shouts my name. When they show up, I panic and kill them. It started off being my mother, but recently it's been two people I've met. When I wake up... I find I've actually killed them."

Silence followed again, broken only by the kitten's rumbling purrs. After what felt like an eternity, he finally spoke.

"Interesting."

She looked at him. "Do you get them?"

"No."

"Oh." Her heart sank and she felt herself sink further into the sofa.

"But it sounds to me like your powers are out of control."

She looked at him over her sleeve. "I worried it might be that."

"You see, I was never in your situation. I managed to make myself immortal, and I don't even need to use my powers anymore."

"But... I don't _want _to be immortal." Her voice cracked. "How does that even work anyway?"

Beyond shrugged. "You are given these powers with the expectation to use them. I guess if you don't, then they just use themselves." He nibbled his thumbnail thoughtfully. After a moment's pause, he stood up abruptly, startling Ryusei and sending the kitten to the floor with an indignant '_mew_'. Turning to her, he held his hand out to her and grinned. "Come with me. Once I help you, those nightmares will go away."

She backed away into the sofa. "I already told you no years ago."

"But now you need me."

She opened her mouth to retaliate, but froze. She knew he was right, she did need him.

"I have my power under perfect control," He told her. "Even before I managed to gain immortality, I could control someone's lifespan easily. I didn't even need to reduce it to zero. I can lower it by a mere fraction if I want to."

Her eyes widened.

"That's right," He said. "I can stop myself. If you could do that, even during one of those nightmares you might be able to spare your target's life if you really wish to."

"But," She looked up at him, her sleeve in her mouth once more. "Why do I have to come with you?"

As if in answer to her question, the door to the room opened and Morning stepped through, followed by Near. The look on Morning's face was all she needed to understand why Beyond wouldn't help her in the comfort of her own home. She looked back up at him and he fixed her with a smirk.

"Exactly." He looked over at the demon. "No need to prepare any insults. I was going to leave anyway." With that, he gave Ryusei one last, brief look before bolting from the room and vanishing over the balcony.

"I can see why you were worried," Near told Morning.

"You can't leave her alone for a second," The demon replied. She turned to Ryusei. "From now on, stay with either Near or me. Understood?"

Ryusei looked away from her. "He was offering to help me."

Morning snorted.

"Help with what?" Near asked.

"My nightmares."

Morning shook her head silently. She moved to the window and closed it before turning to address the young couple.

"You're better off staying away from him, Ryusei, trust me. He's completely insane."

"But he can help me!"

"No!" Morning barked. "He'll make you like him."

The girl fell silent.

"What's wrong with him exactly?" Near asked, seating himself next to Ryusei.

Morning sighed. "Where do I begin?" She turned back to the window and stared outside. "He's always been rather odd. I took him in when he was a child shunned from his own village. When he realised how to use his powers, he wouldn't listen to reason, relishing in some kind of homicidal mania. He seemed to see them as a solution to all his problems, his biggest one being the fear of his own death. Granted, most of the occasions he killed were in self defence, but it didn't end there. When he told me the numbers he could see over his own head kept increasing with each kill, I realised what was happening. And so did he. He became a walking massacre. Eventually, he gained immortality. Something impossible, but, once he managed it, he stopped killing. He'd solved the problem, he'd gained eternal life. However, he pushed his own lifespan so far ahead the universe seemed unable to comprehend it and he ended up becoming a demon and ultimately damning himself. I'm not even sure how that's possible."

"Damning?" Near asked.

Ryusei looked away from her. Whatever it was, it didn't sound nice.

"Yes," Morning went on. "It's something only a demon can do. We can damn mortals if we want to. A damned soul is bound to the demon who claimed them forever, and is eternally tormented in some way."

Ryusei looked up at her. "So that means..."

Morning nodded. "Whatever is left of Beyond that's still human is trapped inside his own mind. How he's tormented, I'm not sure. But that's probably what drives his madness."

Near took her hand and she looked up at him. The worry in his eyes caused her to sigh and look away. That was it, then. The one solution to her problem just got moved further away from her. If she was going to accept the mad man's help, she'd have to break Morning and Near's trust. It didn't seem worth the cost.

* * *

Morning stood leaning over the edge of her balcony, watching the bats flit to and fro, oblivious to the toils and troubles of the world. She considered briefly transferring herself to one of the bats and allowing its instincts to overrule her own as a temporary relief from the swirling turmoil that was currently her mind. However, the only bat she trusted enough for that was Abraxas, and he was currently hanging from her curtain rail with his wing in a splint. As she searched the sky for a less reluctant host, her attention was whipped from the flying mammals to the sound of someone stepping out onto the balcony.

"Good evening," L said, leaning on the rail.

Morning eyed him for a moment, her trust wavering as warning signals roared in her head. With a sigh, she dismissed her thoughts and looked away.

"You two look so alike, it's frightening."

"By 'two', I'm assuming you mean myself and Beyond?" He placed a lollypop in his mouth.

Morning nodded.

"I can prove it to you if you'd like?"

"No need. You don't smell like jam." She hoped the sarcastic remark hid the bitterness. They stood in silence for a while, one watching the world go by below as the other watched the flitting shapes ducking and weaving in the sky. It wasn't long until Morning's curiosity got the better of her and she glanced at the detective briefly, deciding to break the silence.

"What brings you out here anyway?"

"I wanted to check you were alright," He answered. "I didn't know demon's could get sick."

Fantastic. He'd seen right through her lie.

"So you were worried about me?" She asked.

"You could say that." He removed the lolly from his mouth, staring off into space. "Which brings me to my next question. I was wondering, to what extent are you immortal?"

The demon froze. She turned to face him. "What makes you ask that?"

"Well, you withstood a torrent of machine gun bullets. Not many people could survive that."

"I'm not people," She snorted, watching as a bat swerved above and snatched an ususpecting insect. "But, if you must know, no creature is completely immortal. For example, if you remove the head from something you can expect it to die."

"That's basic science."

"The same goes for the heart. Destroy it some way, a demon will die."

He looked at her with a hint of humor in his eyes. "How did those bullets miss those vital areas?"

She shrugged. "Bad aim?"

L nodded and peered back down over the balcony. He was silent for a moment, and she knew he was considering what she'd said. Eventually, he replaced the lolly but his mind appeared to be elsewhere.

"Where do demon's go when they die?"

She turned to look at him again as the motive for his visit sank in.

"You're seeking reassurance, aren't you?"

"Perhaps." He sighed and lifted himself from the rail. "Being immortal, I wanted to know if you were scared of anything."

"You're scared of dying again." She said it matter of factly.

"No, I've died once already. I know what to expect. What I'm afraid of is what will follow."

Morning nodded. "Well, if it helps, we go to the same place you're going. Nothingness."

"And you're not scared?"

She looked away, thinking over his question. Surely someone in his situation would be scared, existing in a world they can never be a part of, being accepted by those around them only to leave them abruptly when their time was up. All that was waiting for them was nothingness and the knowledge that those they'd grown close to would grieve, and there was nothing they could do about it. A sudden twinge shot through her chest and she flinched. Finally, she looked over at him.

"Terrified."

He nodded.

She gave him what she hoped was an encouraging smile. "At least you can leave with no regrets knowing that Steele has recieved his comeuppance."

L looked up at the sky. "Oh, if only that were true."

Her smile fell. "What do you mean?"

He turned away from her and made for the door. He gave her a quick glance back. "Near will be taking over when I've gone. Promise you'll be as loyal to him as you have been to me."

She nodded. "I'll try my best."

As the door closed behind him, she leant back on the balcony and that twinge shot through her chest again. Her hand shot to her heart and she sighed.

"The problem is, I think you're going to take me with you."

* * *

**Poor Morning. And the drama! =O I blame my playlist! Anyway, the next one will follow soon(ish). In the meantime, please R&R! =D**


	15. Stay

**Okay, this one was REALLY hard to write. It took me about four hours to get through one small scene =/ regardless, here it is. I've had this written for a while, I just like to be ahead so sorry for the delay. After re-writing this one and the previous one flat out, I really needed a brain break... **

**This chapter came to me while listening to Blutengel's cover of 'Stay' (Hence the title). Do please give it a listen, it sets the atmosphere a bit.**

**Disclaimer - I do NOT own Death Note!**

* * *

Just over a month had passed since the last murder, leaving L completely stumped. He was sure that this wasn't the end of it, that the killer was just waiting until the right moment to perform another unexpected act, and he was adamant to catch them in the act. Footage from all the hidden cameras set up around London was being directly streamed to the monitor room, and L had complete faith in Near's uncanny ability to view multiple screens at once. Nothing suspicious had been seen on camera, and it had been suggested to L many times by his team that the killer may be aware of the cameras and staying well away. If that was the case, he was sure they would have performed another killing to throw them off the scent. So why the wait?

He sat back in his chair, staring blankly at the screen. This wasn't his only worry. Ryusei hadn't killed anyone else in her sleep since Carol-Anne Markov, but from what he could gather she wasn't sleeping much at all.

Then there was Morning...

He looked over at the elevator. He hadn't seen much of her lately, she was either up in her room working privately – presumably on the case – or taking walks in the park. Her visits to the office were often very brief and she frequently claimed to be feeling unwell. She hadn't shown herself at all for the past week and with each day he was growing more curious as to why.

Unwrapping a cake, he kept his eyes on the elevator, dismissing the idea of 'curiosity' entirely. He had to admit, he was actually growing rather worried.

* * *

Morning paced back and forth before the laptop, occasionally eyeing the information on it as she passed. Nothing. Nothing was leaping out at her at all. All her research on curses just added to the mishmash of swirling mental chaos in her head. Trying to separate each thought was failing as each one just merged into another and led her in circles back to the cold, hard fact of the dire situation in which she'd found herself. Throwing a few foul words at the computer, she began pacing faster. All that was missing from her mental interrogation of the laptop was a swinging light fitting and the growing realisation that she had lost.

She'd lost.

Something pressed on her mind, trying to push all the swirling thoughts aside to make itself known. Whatever it was grew more irritated at her ignorance and she suddenly snapped her attention up to Abraxas as the bat's message became blindingly clear.

'_Someone's coming!_'

Footsteps sounded outside in the hallway, growing louder the closer they came to her room. Diving over to the laptop, she slammed it shut just as a gentle knock resounded through her door. It then opened slowly.

"May I come in?"

She looked over at L standing in the doorway and the feelings of relief at seeing him, mixed with undemon levels of anxiety, washed over her. Regardless, she nodded.

"What do you want?"

He didn't seem remotely fazed at her abruptness. He moved to the centre of the room, his eyes moving from Morning to the closed laptop. She knew right away he'd nailed it as evidence she was hiding something.

"I decided to pay you a visit," He said. "I've not seen much of you lately."

"I've been busy."

"Working on the case? Or the issue with Beyond?"

She shot him a glance. "If it was anything unrelated to the case, I wouldn't tell you."

"I expected that. You've been rather secretive lately." He gestured to the laptop. "Regardless, I do actually want to talk to you."

"Alright."

Climbing onto the bed, Morning leant against the cool wall and gestured to the chair for him to sit down. He ignored it and instead hopped into a squat on the bed next to her. Nibbling on his thumbnail, he fixed his eyes on the far wall.

"I have to say, I'm a little worried about you," He told her.

"You don't need to be." Despite her words, the knowledge of his concern warmed her.

"I think I do. You haven't been yourself at all."

"Maybe I've not been myself for the past nine years, and you're finally seeing the real me."

He looked at her. "Is that true?"

She sighed, sinking slightly further down the wall. "No."

"So, there _is_ something wrong." He looked away again. "You know you can tell me if something's bothering you."

She rubbed a hand over her face. "Nothing's bothering me, I'm just overworked."

He gave her a sideways glance. "Morning, I'm a detective. I can tell when I'm being lied to."

Remaining stubborn, she didn't answer. Instead she let out a groan and fell flat along the bed, pressing one arm over her face.

"Okay. You don't have to tell me," He told her. "But it's never a good idea to keep things bottled up. If you do, it's sure to destroy you sooner or later."

_Destroy..._

That was exactly it. She felt the mattress shift as he made to leave, and in one swift motion she reached out and grabbed his shirt, pulling him back down until he was lying next to her. Stunned, the pair were silent for a moment, the only noise coming from the hundreds of bat wings as they fluttered in and out of the open window.

Morning gripped his shirt tight and took a deep breath.

"I'm scared."

She felt him shift slightly and place his hand on her shoulder, causing a sudden warmth to spread through her body despite the chill of her room.

"Of what?"

The unusual gentleness in his voice didn't help matters. The strange, alien sensations that swarmed her when he was around worried her and her instincts screamed to just run. However, part of her didn't want to and she gripped his shirt tighter, thinking back over the past few weeks – the start of the murders, Beyond's challenge and the inevitable event growing ever closer.

Her eyes fixed on the whiteness of his shirt, she said, "Everything's changing."

"I thought you'd be used to change, with how long you've been around." Mild humor laced his voice.

"Yes, but... this time..." Her voice trailed off as she tried to find the right words.

"If you're worried about changes around here, there won't be much change when I'm gone."

His choice of words caused that twinge in her chest again and she gritted her teeth until it subsided. There would be one vastly significant change, and the thought made her feel physically sick. Now here he was acting as though it didn't matter at all. She grimaced, trying to stifle any tears that threatened to fall. She wasn't falling into that trap.

"Morning..."

He placed his hand over hers, trying to gently prize her deathgrip from his shirt and she became aware she was digging her fingers into his chest. As she removed her hand, he looped his fingers through hers and warmth spread up her arm setting off a war between instinct and reason in her head.

"You don't see it, do you?" She growled.

"I don't see what?"

"That it matters to me." She took a deep breath, staring at their interwoven hands. "I came here out of curiosity, to find out why the great L had come back from Celestria. I never originally planned to stay, but I decided to work alongside you."

"Yes, we have been friends for a while."

_Friends..._

"I guess I assumed we'd be working together for quite some time. I didn't know how their 'gift' worked, I just accepted things as they were. I never once thought..." She closed her eyes tightly and he gave her hand a soft squeeze.

"Oh, Morning, I had no idea this was bothering you." He removed his hand and slid it up her arm and into her hair, pulling her closer to him. "Everyone on our team knows it's coming up, and they're all sad about it. But I never thought you'd be one to take it this badly. I'm sorry."

That one ominious date had haunted her for years, but she had never known what significance it bore until recently. The cruel realisation that this so-called 'blessing' would snatch him away from her in a mere few months physically hurt. She now knew she wanted nothing more than to save him. She gripped his shirt in her hand again, burying her face into his chest. She wanted him to stay.

"I don't know _why_ I'm taking it like this."

He ran his fingers through her hair slowly, stirring up an odd fluttering in her stomach and causing her instinct's mental voice to scream at her '_You shouldn't be feeling like this! Run!_'

"I guess, like everyone else, you don't realise how much something means to you until it's gone."

Her chaotic thoughts froze as his words sank in. He was right.

"What about you?"

She felt his heart quicken under her hand and he took in a steadying breath, then let it out slowly.

"I've known for a long time."

She pulled back to look up at him and her heart clenched. His dark eyes, normally filled with intrigue and steely determination, softened as he met hers. The mental war in her head was immediately silenced as everything suddenly made sense.

She closed her eyes, snaking her arm around his back and drawing herself closer to him. She felt his warm breath on her face, then her lips briefly brushed his and her breath hitched in her throat. He ran a hand over her hair, gently bringing her closer until their lips met again, hesitant at first. The contact created an odd sensation in her stomach, further encouraged as he brushed her cheek with a thumb. Slowly, with calculated movements, he moved his lips against hers and she accepted, melting into him as that sensation spread through her body like electricity, warming her every nerve.

As if checking it wasn't a dream, she moved her hand up into his coarse, wild hair, and the reality of the situation sank in. The warmth, sweetness – everything that was L was held firmly in her arms. She let out a small whimper and moved further into him, deepening the kiss, pouring out years of repressed emotions in that one action. His hold on her tightened and she secured her arms around him, neither of them willing to give up the other. As he ran his fingers through her hair, her heart fluttered at the touch and she was suddenly aware her cheeks were wet with tears.

He reluctantly pulled away from her, dotting her face with soft kisses. When he came to an inevitable stop to catch his breath, he looked down at her, taking her hand in his. Her heart sank when she saw the sadness that now filled his eyes. The drone of bat wings now seemed deafening, cruelly dragging her back into cold, harsh reality.

"You said I could rest peacefully having no regrets, and I denied it, remember?"

She nodded sadly.

He lowered his eyes and sighed. "I regretted never telling you how I feel. Well, now you know."

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze before hopping off the bed and making for the door. One thought leapt to the front of Morning's mind, manifesting as a soul crushing question.

"You regret it, don't you?"

He faultered, his hand hovering over the doorknob. A painful silence fell between them, and without a word, he opened the door and left, letting it close behind him with a final click.

With a groan, Morning covered her face with her hands. Of course he regretted it. In letting her know how he felt, he'd only made matters worse for the both of them. Now there was nothing she could do, she was powerless. All her efforts had led her to nothing.

Nothing.

Now she was alone.

For the first time in her life, she really cried.

It was over.

A lonely breeze passed over her face, bringing nothing but a chill with it.

She was alone.

Cold and alone.

She took in a deep breath as the breeze passed over her again, taking an erratic pattern. Someone was calling her name.

Snapping herself out of her dark reverie, she realised who it was.

'_Abraxas!_'

She opened her eyes just in time to see a blue figure drop on top of her. Beyond grinned down at her, one hand on either side of her head.

"Not yet you don't, Little Bat."

Anger flared in her veins, replacing the doubts and darkness. She sat up, ramming her palms into his chest and sending him backwards away from her until he landed in a squat at the foot of the bed. He ducked quickly, avoiding an airboarn pillow.

"Leave," She growled.

"I'd rather not. I've got something important to tell you." To emphasise his point, he hopped off the bed and into the chair, pulling a knee up to his chest. He flashed her one of his trademark smirks. "You're not doing very well, are you?"

She fixed him with a violet glare. "Did you come here to gloat?"

"Partly," He shrugged. "And also to tell you you're losing. That's always the way when you just look for clues under your nose."

"What are you getting at?"

He stood up, making it to her side in two strides. He leaned over her, and she retreated back into the bed.

"What I'm saying is there's no point in lying there moping about it. No one's going to hear your cries, are they? They just fall on deaf ears. No one's going to help you. The answer isn't going to just jump up and present itself."

"You're speaking in riddles!"

He grinned broadly. "Can't figure it out? That's because you're looking in all the wrong places, Little Bat." He turned away, gesturing to the closed laptop. "You think you can find the solution amongst humans? What knowledge do they have? All their ideas and speculations are derived from fiction – novels, movies, tall tales."

Morning watched him as he backed slowly towards the window, the early March wind whipping his tailcoat about dramatically.

"Have you ever considered the answer might lie in another world?" He asked her. "Perhaps _your own_?" With one final grin, he backflipped over the edge of the balcony and vanished from sight.

Morning leapt up from her bed, staring out of the window. He'd actually made sense. She had been looking in all the wrong places. She wasn't going to find an answer here. If she wanted to break L's curse, she had to search amongst those who _dealt _with curses.

"Abraxas."

The bat fixed his tiny eyes on her.

"I'm going home. I want you to stay here and watch over L and Ryusei."

The bat gave her a nod.

With that, she stepped out onto the balcony and looked down, taking in the streets still busy – unsleeping – as London often was, even in this chill. It was a long way, and if she wanted to make it there unseen she would need help.

She looked up at the bats darting about overhead, forming a cloud of tiny bodies that swiftly extended down around her. Always reliable. Always willing to help. She knew she could always rely on the bats. Climbing up onto the rail, she took a deep breath and let herself fall, the cloud of bats following her and masking her presence as they spiralled around the edge of the building, carrying her into the London night.

* * *

***Dramatic music* =O**

**I've had this scene in my head since before I even began this story, so I wanted to get this perfect. I was SO annoyed when I lost this chapter originally. I think this re-write works though so YAY!**

**Anyway, this is getting to it's completion now. Probably about 3 or 4 chapters left. I'm going to miss this little series =( please R&R!**


	16. Into The Madness

**Weirdness reigns in this chapter! Seriously. I've actually been told by my proof-reader that this is possibly the best one I've done. I was worried, it's a bit of an experiment. This entire chapter came to me one day while listening to Assemblage 23's 'Let Me Be Your Armor'. It was originally going to be a song-fic, but adding one part way through a story seemed a little odd. So... I wrote a poem based on the song, using the same ideas and such to keep in tone with the creepiness of it. It was NOT easy. It took me two days to re-write the song into a poem. Then I had the painful task of merging said poem with an entire chapter.**

**So here are the fruits of my endeavors. Please review if you can, I'd really like to know what you people think.**

**Disclaimer - I do NOT own Death Note! Poem 'Take Away The Pain' heavily influenced by Assemblage 23 'Let Me Be Your Armor' (Give it a listen!)**

* * *

Morning dropped onto all fours in the empty street, the sound of hundreds of pairs of bat wings fluttering away into the sky. She stood and looked up at the large, abandoned theatre looming above her, eerie shadows cast upon it from the lone streetlamp behind her. This was the place, she just had to hope it was still where she left it.

Her eyes scanned the wall, seeking out the broad outline from the bricked up door. There it was, just as she remembered it. Taking a step forward she slipped her fingers into the gap between the bricks. Something cool and metalic greeted her and she pulled it out – a large emblem threaded onto a chain. A black jewel glittered in the dull light and she battled with the sudden rising feeling of dread.

"Found it then?"

She almost span on the spot, her eyes falling on the familiar victorianesque figure leaning on the wall. Beyond grinned at her.

"You followed me?"  
He shrugged. "I'm not about to let you out of my sight now, am I?"

She fixed her violet eyes on his, anger simmering within her.

"_You_ are going to the Netherworld?"

He chuckled. "You're not the only one with a key."

Her heart sank. How long had he been freely passing between worlds? Something about this suddenly didn't add up. She should have guessed he wasn't going to just give her a clue if he wasn't going to get some kind of enjoyment out of it. Regardless...

She sighed and turned back to the bricked up door, slipping the 'key' into her pocket. With a deep, steadying breath, she reached out to the door.

Beyond cut in front of her.

"Allow me."

Placing a hand on the door, the space between the bricks warped and a large rectangle of swirling purple and black spread before her. He removed his hand and gave her an elaborate bow, removing his hat and gesturing to the vortex.

"After you, Little Bat."

She tugged the collar of her coat up in a dismissive gesture and turned away from Beyond, her attention fixing on that swirling vortex of light. On the other side waited the Netherworld, with all its horrors, tormented souls and unusual time flow. Depending on where she ended up, she'd have to be quick. Bracing herself, she stepped through, the light engulfing her in a trickling wave of static.

A brief image of the interior of the abandoned theatre spread out around her, chairs and balconys stretching out like an old painting masked in a green haze. In the centre of the floor was a flight of stairs, spiralling down into darkness. She hesitated, staring at that ominious stairway.

"Oh come now, you haven't forgotten the way?"

Beyond passed her and waited at the top of the stairs with a mocking smirk.

"I know it's been a long time since you were last here." He folded his arms, stifling a laugh. "Though it's puzzling as to why." He appeared thoughtful for a moment, but she knew he was mocking her. "Are you sure you want to do this, Little Bat?"

She took a few steps forward until she was facing him, anger glazing her violet eyes.

"Why are you following me?"  
He laughed.

"I'm not following you, I'm leading you." He flashed her a grin. "Just like the White Rabbit led Alice down into Wonderland."  
She felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle. This man was beginning to seriously get on her nerves.

"I can lead myself, I know where I'm going."

He inclined his head on one side. "Do you?"

She pushed him firmly aside and brushed past him. He laughed maniacally, the sound echoing around the empty room. Taking the steps one at a time, the darkness slowly spread around her. The steps were lit with an eerie green glow but were bone dry. The sound of footsteps behind her caused her to stifle a groan. She knew he'd follow her, but she'd clung on to some vain hope he would just leave her alone.

"Down, down, down, but where does it go? Things can change, so how can you know?"  
She growled. Now he was speaking in rhyme? With a sigh, she ignored him. The steps flattened out into a green-hued floor and rising up on either side of her were large walls decorated morbidly with skeletal bodies, their spines and limbs twisted in a grotesque manner as they attempted to span the length and height of the wall. This was pointless, however, as the walls seemed to go on forever. She swallowed drily as Beyond's words began to make sense. She didn't recognise this at all.

"I warned you." His voice was quiet and eerie, like a child mocking a friend for getting into trouble.

She sighed, looking back over her shoulder. There was no sign of Beyond, and the staircase was gone, replaced by one of the morbid walls. There was only one way she could go now – forward. It unnerved her that she didn't know where she was. If it was a new area of the Netherworld, she would likely find herself in trouble. But she could always go back.

She slipped her hand into her pocket, but her fingers closed around nothing. Her heart leapt into her throat. Tugging the lining of her pocket out, her fears became a frightening reality.

"The slimy little..."

When had he managed to pick her pockets? She span around, seeking every shadow for the maniac while simultaneously thinking back to any contact she might have had with him.

The staircase.

She'd pushed past him. That would have been his window of opportunity. Now she was trapped here.

Trapped.

She growled, her hackles rising. She knew there was a reason he was following her and now she had it. He'd tricked her.

Something shifted behind her and she span on her heel, trying to spot any movement in the shadows but she found nothing.

"Beyond!" Her voice echoed across the walls.

"I'm still here, I've not left you."

She turned around again, but her eyes fell on nothing. For a moment she wondered if he'd blended in with the twisted forms in the walls.

"Come out, you coward!"

Laughter.

"Coward?" He purred, dangerously close to her ear.

She span once more, finding him leaning on the wall behind her. His eyes were masked by the shadow from his hat, but she knew he was watching her.

Her anger ebbed for a moment and she sighed.

"Beyond, what are you playing at?"

He raised his head, his eyes briefly visible in the eerie light.

"I'm not playing anything. This isn't a game any more, Little Bat."

His words sent a chill washing over her and her mouth went dry. Quickly replacing her fear with anger, she took a step forward.

"Give it back."

"Give what back?" He inclined his head on one side.

"Don't play dumb with me, you know exactly what I'm referring to."

He made a thoughtful noise as he slipped his hand into his inside pocket, pulling out a long chain which hung limply from his fingers.

"This?"  
She grabbed for it, but he snatched it away, hiding it with a swift sleight of hand.

"Ah ah ah," He waved a finger at her. "Not so hasty, Little Bat."

Beyond let out a grunt as Morning grabbed him by the neck and rammed him against the wall, lifing him slowly from the floor.

"Don't think I'm falling for any of your bullshit, Beyond. I'm not in the mood for your silly pranks. Give me that key back and get lost."

He closed his eyes, his mouth returning to its smirk, and laughed softly.

"Oh, Morning," He placed a warm hand over hers and attempted to gently loosen her grip. "You know this is pointless, you're wasting valuable time. We both know you won't hurt me." He fixed his eyes on hers. "You can't _bring_ yourself to."

She felt a low growl rising in her throat. He was right; as much as she wanted to, she couldn't. With a sigh, she released him and he dropped to the floor.

He righted himself and leant back on the wall, studying her carefully. "I wonder why that is?"

She didn't answer.

"I think it's because you know you need me."

A chill rushed down her spine. Need him? Ridiculous.

"Why did you take the key?" She asked him.

He gave her a half smile. "As a bargaining tool." With a flick of his hand he whipped the amulet out from his sleeve and held it delicately, admiring it in the dim light. "If you want my help, I'll keep hold of this until I say you can go. If you choose to not accept my help, I give it back and you leave." He glanced up at her. "Agreed?"

She ground her teeth together, her entire body tense. "Do I have much choice?"  
"You have two choices." He watched the amulet dangle from its chain with mild amusement. "Come with me or go home. Find the cure for L, or let me damn him." He laughed. "I thought your answer would be pretty obvious by now."

"Fine! I'll take your help."

"It's a dangerous journey, I'll tell you that."  
"I don't care. Show me, then let me go home. That's your deal."

"Of course, I don't lie." He tucked the amulet away in his pocket then held his hand out to her. "Shall we?"  
She ignored his hand and pushed past him, letting him follow behind her. As they moved down that grotesque corridor, the twisted shapes seemed to become more prominent and the natural light began to flicker, as though a green fire had been lit. Morning thought the increase in skeletal forms in the walls were her imagination, but it wasn't long until the walls seemed to be entirely made of twisted spines and limbs.

"What is this place?"

Beyond let out a snicker.

She ignored his response, her mind focused on more important matters: saving L, getting out of the Netherworld, and finding out where that flickering light was coming from. She was sure this area of the Netherworld was new, or undiscovered.

The wall now had long, clawed branches reaching from it. Or were they arms? They seemed to be extending from the shadows high above them.

"_The madness here to me's no stranger, but your walking into danger._"

She froze, glancing back at Beyond. He just gave her an unsettling smile. Turning away from him, she pressed on. No going back now.

"_Before you feel the crushing pain..._"

She felt him touch her hand. Instinctively she snatched it away and shot him a warning glare. He reached out, offering his hand.

"..._let me take you home again._"

She turned away from him with a snort and picked up her pace. The sooner she found what she came here for, the better. But... was it getting darker? She looked up at the increasing shadows cast by those long, loping claws.

"_Let me be your guiding light to lead you safely through the night._"

She barely saw Beyond as he cut infront of her.

"_Through day I'll be the voice you hear warding off the things you fear._"

The darkness thickened at an alarming rate. Normally her night vision was better than this, but she could barely see a thing. She reached out for the wall in a vain attempt to find her way, but instead her hand met something cold and wet. A peircing scream radiated through the tunnel and she froze. Dull light flickered around her and she found herself standing in a forest next to a flailing tree. She withdrew her hand from its surface sharply and grimaced, it was coated with blood.

"_I can be your guarding shield, let me be the sword you weild..._"

One of its clawed branches raced down towards her, no time to avoid it. She braced herself for impact, but it never came. Just the sound of wood hitting flesh, a grunt and a loud crack followed by a wail of pain.

"_...to keep you safe throughout this war, I'll take each blow until I scar._"

She opened her eyes just in time to see Beyond drag her out of the way of another swinging branch. Glancing back, she saw the branch that had threatened her, now snapped and dripping fresh blood onto the sodden ground. Wailing echoed around her as the other trees joined in the fray, their long claws dragging long gashes into the floor.

Following Beyond, she ducked out of the way of swinging branches. She was sure she'd heard of this somewhere, that these weren't trees, but suffering souls. She flinched as a branch almost struck her, but Beyond reached out and grabbed it, twisting the branch brutally and sending a spray of blood into the air. The tree screamed, yanking its broken limb free.

Morning stared wide-eyed at the scene. This wasn't right. Forcing herself to look away, she pressed on. The ground was becoming more like a marsh, squelching sickeningly beneath her feet. She dreaded to think what it was soaked with.

"_I'll stay with you with every stride, through all your trials, right by your side._"

The trees twisted away from them, shrinking down into the ground... or what used to be the ground. The wails halted, casting an eerie silence so heavy it pressed on her eardrums. Morning found herself wading through freezing water, a thick cloud of green mist clinging to the surface. The air was chilled with damp and her breath formed a white cloud. Her heart shot into her throat. This wasn't just the Netherworld. It didn't morph like that. This was... She looked up at Beyond and he grinned at her, beckoning her on. This was impossible.

Her mouth went dry. She had to get out of here. She turned back, but the forest was gone. Completely. A green lake stretched out around her infinitely, translucent forms rising from the surface and wading towards her, letting out mournful howls. She turned back to the mad man.

"Where have you taken me?!"

He slowly looked down at the area near her feet and she followed his gaze. A hand was rising from the water and wrapping around her ankle. Staying still was clearly not an option. With a yell, she tugged herself free and kicked out at the groping limb. Taking a deep breath, she waded on desperate to get out of Beyond's crazy trap.

He waited for her to catch up and kept a steady pace beside her. The strange, translucent spirits gathered around them, following them through the lake. Their bare arms reached out to grab at them, but this didn't deter Beyond from his deranged rambling.

"_I'll be your strength if you grow weak, I'll be your voice if you can't speak._"

The spirits moved closer, so close she could make out the details of their faces, each one twisted into a grimace. She picked up her pace and stumbled against the restricting water. Beyond was also moving uncomfortably close to her and she clenched her fists, her frustration growing.

"_I'll be your armor agaisnt the pain, wear me and I'll keep you sane._"

She froze, turning to face him. Anger flared in her eyes and, almost on cue, the water began to bubble and rise, pushing the spirits back. She opened her mouth to fire insults, but the bubbling distracted her. They were surrounded by a wall of what appeared to be large, white bubbles.

"_Before this madness starts to sway, I can take your pain away._"

She felt his hand fasten around hers. Alarmed, she yanked it back, but he kept a firm grip. She looked up and met his eyes which were filled with humor and mischief.

"Beyond, what do you think your doing?" She grabbed his hand with her free one, trying to claw herself free.

"I'm offering to help you," He said softly.

"I don't need your help. Now let me go."

"You know you need me. You just won't admit it." His voice was almost a purr. "Maybe it would help if you knew what I was capable of?"

An unsettling air of paranoia washed over her and she faltered, looking around at her surroundings. She almost screamed.

The walls of bubbles had manifested into millions of staring eyes, twitching to keep her in their sight.

"_I can be your binding chains, as your madness slowly wanes._"

His other hand went to her shoulder and she felt the wall give slightly against her back as she was forced against it. Her heart was racing as the direness of her situation sank in and she fixed her frantic, violet eyes on his. Warm breath tickled her skin as he closed in on her, his nose brushing against hers causing her to break into a sudden, cold sweat.

"_You I'll smother and control..._" He ran the fingers of his right hand softly through her hair. "_...and penetrate your very soul._"

His words and actions roiled through her mind, blinding with fear. She snatched her arm free and swung it hard into the side of his head, sending him sprawling along the floor. She stood, gasping, staring at Beyond as he slowly scrambled to his feet. He met her eyes, now reflecting her own surprise. If he'd been intending to push her to find out what his boundaries were, he'd done it.

"Beyond, I..."

Her entire body began to shake and she steadied herself on the soft wall, cringing as her hand met one of the large eyes. Every eye was still locked on her, each one fixing her with an accusing stare. She slowly slumped to the floor.

"Just leave me alone."

"_There's not much left that can remain, only I can keep you sane._"

"I said leave."

"_Before your madness starts to sway, let me take the pain away!_"

The desperation in his voice caused her to look up. He was crouching a mere few feet away, reaching out to her. Without the customary grin distorting his features, Beyond looked almost sane... was that concern? She clenched her fist and her fingers brushed against a loose rock, closing tightly around it. With a yell, she threw it, missing him by millimeters and shattering against the wall behind him.

"Leave!"

With that, he scurried out of sight.

She leant back against the wall, now solid stone. The mound of eyes had vanished, leaving a large, rocky rise on either side. A valley. She closed her eyes. She knew where she was now. Everything had been an illusion, a manifestation of Beyond's madness. Whatever spell he'd conjured up had dissipated now.

And now she was alone. And he still had her key.

* * *

**Please please please please PLEASE review! I need the criticism. I may also update sooner ;)**


	17. A Near Death Experience

**Here we go! Next chapter. Bit of a filler so you know what everyone's getting up to while poor Morning is stuck in the Netherworld. **

**This story only has about two chapters after this one. If I can fit the last bits into two chapters that is. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer - I do NOT own Death Note!**

* * *

Sticking close to the shadows, Light strolled down the small rural street, houses rising up on either side. Unable to hide his wings from human eyes, he was having to do all his searching during the early hours of the morning when there were less people on the streets and that still meant staying out of the city centre. However, that didn't bother him. He was searching for Beyond, and the mad man was sticking close to the ICPO and its surrounding buildings. Frustratingly, he'd avoided him at every opportunity, often slipping off into the Netherworld before he managed to even get close. It was as though he knew Light was waiting, or he was playing games with him. There was a different feeling in the air tonight, though. Something strange, and he'd noticed it the minute he'd stepped foot onto this street.

A scurry to his right brought him to an abrupt stop, his eyes searching the shadows. The movement had been that quick he'd failed to decipher it. Had it come or gone from the garden? He peeked over the low wall and searched the surrounding shrubbery, following the small path with his eyes to the large, red front door. A cat flap fluttered in the light breeze and he stood up with a sigh. So it had just been a cat, coming or going from its home.

"Well well well."

He spun on his heel, his wings going stiff. The voice cut through the silence like a blade and sending a shiver down his spine. His eyes were drawn up to the house opposite; Beyond was perched on the roof sporting an outlandish Victorian suit and grinning like a well dressed gargoyle. The dim streetlight cast him in shadow, which only added to the eeriness of the scene.

Light leant back against the low garden wall, fixing Beyond with an authoratative stare.

"What are you doing up there?"  
"What are _you_ doing _down there_?" Beyond cocked his head on one side, smirking over his thumb.

"I think you should answer me first."

Beyond appeared thoughtful, but Light knew he wasn't going to get any answers out of the mad man. After a moment's pause, he let out a chuckle and the angel masked his unease.

"You've been following me for some time now, Flappy."

Light raised an eyebrow. "Watch who you're calling names."

"I'd like to know why you're following me," Beyond said, dismissing the angel's words entirely, "but I have a feeling you might be the 'trouble' Morning warned me about."

"She did, did she?" Light rubbed the back of his head. "I had a feeling she would. You're messing with powers way beyond your ken, demon."

Beyond laughed again, throwing his head back, the streetlamps casting his face entirely in shadow. The scene was otherworldly and Light's first thoughts were of a maniacal, hellish hyena.

"You can laugh as much as you want," Light warned. "But the Celestial beings are not happy with you."

Beyond fixed his wild eyes on the angel's. "Oh, I never imagined they would be."

"Then why oppose us? From what I've gathered, hardly any demons bother damning souls anymore. What do you hope to gain from this?"

Beyond was silent again, nibbling on his thumbnail and not taking his eyes off the angel. Light wondered if he was afraid to, as though looking away would have the angel on him in an instant. Then, his lips twisted into a demonic grin.

"You can't stop me," He purred.

Light took a step forwards, but Beyond raised his hand to point at the lamp rising between them. The angel followed his hand to a small spere that twinkled discreetly beneath the bulb. A camera. His heart sank. Looking around, he found several more and the daunting realisation that he'd been caught on film caused him to break out into a cold sweat.

"If you come up here, you'll only completely give yourself away."

Light seethed, clenching his fists so tight his nails dug into his palms. Beyond's shrill laughter hurt his ears and he grimaced. Every camera was pointed towards the house with the cat, and Beyond was behind them all, not a single one focused on him.

"How long have you known about them?"

The demon stopped for breath and wiped a hand across his eyes, a small chuckle escaping his chest.

"Oh, I've known for days."

"So this was a trap?" Light growled.

"No, more a convenience really. Ah well, I'd love to stay and chat but I've got things to do." He gave the angel a mocking wave and vanished over the back of the house.

Light braced himself to follow, but froze. He'd given himself away enough. He looked up at the cameras again and fell back against the wall with an audible sigh. Celestria were not going to be happy about this.

* * *

L hit the pause button and the video footage froze on his screen. The entire current investigation team leant over his shoulders – Ryusei on one side and Near on the other with the four police officers grouped behind them.

L had barely noticed them surround him. The donut he'd been enjoying fell into his lap.

"Is that...?" Aizawa said, leaning closer.

"Light!" Matsuda pointed, leaning on the back of L's chair with his free hand. "It is! Look!"  
"What is he doing there?" L's voice was so soft the rest of the team hadn't heard it. He stared, fixated at the image on screen. Light was leaning over the wall, clearly looking for something. He picked the donut up and nibbled on it, his mind searching for any evidence as to why Light would come back to earth.

Had there been any clues recently?  
He leant back in his chair, hitting the play button and letting the scene run on. After searching over the garden wall, the angel span on the spot as though something had startled him. Then he started shouting something.

"Can we get sound on this?" L asked, looking over at Near.

Near shook his head, twirling his hair between his fingers.

Frustrated, L turned back to the screen. Light was now deep in conversation with something he couldn't see. He chewed his thumbnail, desperately racking his mind. Clues... anything.

"We didn't see anything on the other footage either," Near told him. "Whoever he's talking to managed to stay out of the way."

L rewound the footage to the point before Light came onto the screen. Something darted away from the garden, covered in shadow and not looking remotely human. It had moved so quickly the cameras couldn't pick out any detail. He sat back again, letting the same scene play out – Light appears, searches for something, has a conversation...

He looked over his shoulder at the police officers.

"Investigate this house. I want you to get there before any police do."

"You think there's been a murder there?" Matsuda practically wailed.

"Yes, I do." He looked back at the screen, Light still in a heated conversation with some hidden entity. "I'm certain of it."

* * *

Ryusei found herself in the abandoned warehouse, bodies surrounding her. Her heart was racing and she felt exhausted. She needed to find a way out, a way to escape. Looking around, she searched for a door. Any door. But there was only one, and it lay ahead from her, a dim, flickering light behind it. Swallowing, she stepped over the bodies carefully. She was desperate to leave, and this place had become unnervingly familiar.

"Ryusei!"

She froze. That voice...

Someone shuffled into the doorway, devastatingly familiar, seeking her out with dark eyes. She yelled, sitting up with such force the dream shattered and released her. A mournful yowl from the foot of the bed resounded over the sound of her frantic breathing.

"No!" She whimpered.

Two arms pulled her back down onto the mattress, holding her against a warm, familiar body. A gentle hand ran through her hair and she gripped the fabric of their shirt in her fist.

"Another nightmare?"

She looked up at Near and sobbed, burrying her face in his chest.

"Who was it this time?"

She choked back tears and clung to his shirt tightly, her words coming out in a mumble.

He stroked her hair again, the sensation calming her sobs.

"Ryu-Chan?"

She took in a deep breath, the dream still haunting her mind. She'd been dreading this, and now it had almost happened.

"You..."

He froze, and tears flooded her eyes. She braced herself for the inevitable, but it never came. Instead, she found herself in a crushing embrace and her tears flowed out and soaked through his shirt.

"I panicked and woke up," She choked, "so I didn't do anything."

He said nothing, running his fingers through her hair gently, comforting her. It was working, but she wasn't going back to sleep. She was never sleeping again.

"I've been dreading that," She told him, "Accidentally killing someone I love. And now I've almost done it."

"But you didn't," He said softly. "So it's okay."

"But what if I don't manage to stop myself next time?"

Silence.

"I don't want to lose you. Especially not to this... curse."

He pulled back from her slightly to look at her, but she refused to release her grip on his shirt. "You won't lose me. You clearly have some control over it now if you can wake yourself."

"It was a fluke."  
Silence fell over them and she knew he had nothing to say to that. The only sound came from the sleep-induced purrs of the kitten, a comforting sound that seemed to fill the entire room. Or it would have been comforting had Ryusei not had the haunting image in her mind of Beyond sat petting it at the end of the bed. She shifted, suddenly desperate to check if anyone was watching her, but Near placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her and met her eyes.

"You still managed it, so I believe you can do it again."

She felt her eyes widen at his words. "You have that much faith in me?"

"Ryusei..."

He moved a hand through her hair, bringing her closer and catching her lips in his. She immediately melted into him, wrapping her arms firmly around him and running her fingers through his soft hair. He didn't have to say anything else, his actions said enough.

Time ticked by and later that night he fell asleep as she stroked his hair. She glanced up at the clock – three-fourtyfive. With a sigh, she dragged herself from the sheets, refusing to succumb to another nightmare. Leaving the kitten and Near sound asleep, she slipped from the bedroom and walked out onto the balcony, letting the cool March air chase away any lingering feelings of sleep.

Trying to think of anything, her mind stretched to the investigation and she wondered how Matsuda and the others were doing. Normally L would have sent her and Morning, but she was still on sabbattical and Morning hadn't been seen in over two weeks. She'd seemingly vanished without a trace.

She sighed and leant on the balcony rail, watching the world below. Cars still trickled along the road, a shocking contrast to the busy traffic of daytime, and a group of people sauntered along, shouting merrily. Memories of her life on the street came pouring back, times where she'd been down there at this time experiencing first hand the night life the streets offered. The cats she'd befriended in the alleys offering comfort and company, and sometimes protection from the more volatile life that surrounded her.

A movement at the base of the building caught her eye, as though something was crawling up the wall and she leant over for a better look. There was no balcony below her, yet it had seemed to vanish just under her own floor. Leaning further over the rail, she strained to spot whatever it was. She wondered if it had been a bat, but it had seemed to big to be a bat...

Her hand slipped and she felt herself falling forwards. She let out a gasp, her voice stolen from her as the rail collided with her ribs and she went tumbling head first over the edge of the balcony. Her stomach flipped into her throat and she closed her eyes, bracing herself for the inevitable impact. Her body jarred as the back of her shirt caught on something and the fabric pressed against her throat. She opened her mouth to yell, but she was yanked upwards, then an arm looped under her stomach and dragged harshly back onto the balcony. She landed with force on her back, the wind knocked out of her. She groaned, slowly propping herself up on her elbows. Leaning against the rail, panting heavily, was Beyond. He looked down at her, his eyes dark and serious. If it wasn't for the suit, she would have mistaken him for L.

"I don't know what you're playing at, but death is not the answer." He sank to the floor.

"I wasn't... I thought I saw..." Her voice trailed off as her eyes absently drifted back to the world below, taking in the sickening drop. Her heart was still racing and the worst-case scenario played out incessently in her mind. She shook herself harshly and moved next to him, leaning her back against the railings. "Thank you. I really thought that was the end."

"It would have been if I hadn't shown up," He said flatly. "I came to see if you've been having any more nightmares."

She sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her head in her arms. "Actually, yes." He was silent, so she went on. "I almost killed Near."

"Almost?"  
She nodded, not looking up. "I woke up."

He made a noise of aknowledgement and fell into a thoughtful silence.

A breeze wafted across the balcony and Ryusei became very aware she was only wearing pyjamas. She shuddered, huddling into a ball. She heard Beyond shift and rise to his feet.

"My offer still stands."

She looked up at him just as he moved into her flat, his hands stuffed into his tailcoat pockets. She watched him curiously as he moved out of sight and reappeared, holding her fleece out to her by the hood at arms length as if fearing it might bite him at any moment.

When she didn't take it, he shrugged at her blank stare.

"You're cold."

She sighed, taking it gingerly and wrapping it around herself, mumbling a 'thanks'. There was something wrong. She watched him move over to the balcony and stare down at the street, seemingly lost in thought. Something was...

Bells rang out, echoing through the night as they alerted the sleeping city that yet another hour had passed. Eerie and haunting, solemn and lonely.

"You seem different." She said it matter-of-factly, startling herself.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, a glimmer of humor sparking into existence, which swiftly spread across his face. Then he chuckled quietly, disturbing the bat that had taken up residence just above her window. Then he burst into a fit of maniacal laughter.

'_There we go_,' Ryusei thought, a shudder crossing her spine.

He stopped abruptly, fixing his dark-rimmed eyes on hers. "Anyone would be shocked to find their brethren plummetting to their death."

"Brethren?"  
He moved from the balcony and turned to face her. "There is a cure for your nightmares, Ryusei."  
She stared at him, her sleeve finding its way into her mouth. She knew what he was going to say, he'd suggested it twice already.

"The problem is, you keep refusing my offer." He turned away from her, the chime of the church bells coming to an end, plunging London into silence once more.

"I can't leave here." She stared through the window into her flat, her reflection staring back at her. She sucked on her sleeve, diverting her eyes from her judging reflection. "Not yet."

"As long as you're here, out of control, you're a risk."

Her eyes snapped to his, words forming in her mouth to retaliate, but the crazed expression in his eyes caused her words to freeze.

"We're shunned. Nobody accepts those born under that star. You should know that. They want us dead, and moments before they almost got what they wished for." He gestured to the balcony.

"That was an accident!"

He snorted. "Nothing's an accident." He turned away from her and hopped up onto the rail with all the grace of a cat. "If that Near means as much to you as you make out, you'd take what I say into consideration."

She leapt to her feet, anger bubbling in her chest.

"You keep trying to drag me away. I don't want that. You said there is a cure, is that what you're offering? Because I don't think becoming like you is a 'cure'."

He turned on the rail to look down at her, the light from the moon causing his eyes to shine like a wild cat's.

"All curses have a 'cure'."

"And you know what it is?" She stared at him, a grin slowly appearing across his face. She took a step back and swallowed audibly. "Then, if you know, why are you still 'cursed'?"

He spread his arms wide and laughed. "Because I'm immortal!" He leant backwards, falling over the edge of the balcony, his laughter echoing into the night with all the haunting energy of those church bells.

* * *

L mused over the recent murder, letting the cool breeze that crossed his balcony ruffle his hair. Andrew Parkinson, age fifty-two, zoologist. Nothing sparked an instant reference to _Alice in Wonderland_. Matsuda and the others hadn't found anything, just the body and an immaculately clean house, as he was expecting.

And what did Light have to do with all this?

These questions only added to the muddled thoughts in his head. He stared down at the London streets, dotted with miniscule, model houses, toy-sized cars zipping along the road and figures no bigger than ants. The impressive view of the city from this height did nothing to distract him from his thoughts. For a brief moment he was sure he'd heard an echoing laughter, as though some invisible entity took great delight in his suffering. A sound of fluttering wings caused him to look up, and a small bat landed just above his window. That same bat – Abraxas – came and went every night, almost as if it were watching over him. He turned away, dismissing the ridiculous thought.

Two weeks. It had been over two weeks. Had he hurt her? Is that why she'd suddenly left, without a trace?

"Morning," He sighed, leaning on the rail and watching the world below. "Where are you?"

* * *

**Well, there's you're Near/Ryusei fluff =P **

**But what's going on? Why did Beyond save Ryusei? Will Morning ever get out of the Netherworld? Will Matsuda finally have his jam?**

**Please R&R and the next chapter will come faster. It's a long one... and quite dark.**


	18. Memories

**Good grief, this took some writing. It's rather long - for me anyway - and just came out of the blue. I'm warning you, it's very dark. Actually...**

**PLEASE READ - if you're sensitive to incredibly dark, rather distressing scenes and references to suicide, you might want to avoid the fourth chunk of italics.**

**There, you can't say I didn't warn you. It's not exactly close to home for me, and even I questioned myself writing it. But I needed to add some background, and this would have been even longer if I hadn't decided to omit two scenes entirely. Which, unless people literally demand a prequel, I will never write. I kind of want to keep things vague.**

**Okay, here we go**

**Disclaimer - I do NOT own Death Note!**

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Morning struggled to her feet, her legs still like jelly after that frightening encounter. She steadied herself against the rocky surface of the wall and took a deep breath. Now she had to find her way to this 'cure' on her own, and she had no idea where to even start looking. She swallowed drily. There was every chance this was a trap so Beyond had her out of the way to get to L. He'd only been gone mere minutes, but finding him was out of the question. He had most likely escaped back to the human world. She groaned loudly. She had to get back up there, and the only way was to obtain a key. Placing one foot in front of the other, she staggered forward, blindly pushing herself through the valley.

She still couldn't figure out why Beyond wanted to damn L. What did he get out of it? Was it a dig at her, or did he actually feel the need to do so? If it were the latter, it was clearly to do with his madness. Insanity can cause irrational, and often dangerous, actions. She knew that.

She'd seen it first hand...

She moved with more confidence now, stuffing her hands into her coat pockets. The valley started to expand out on either side, giving her a wide path. Purple tufts of foliage poked out from between jagged rocks, a vibrant contrast to the sandy red of the stone. Yellow sulphuric smoke spiralled out from fissures in the surface of the mountains like escaping spirits and wound around her feet before rising into the air and becoming a mist, vanishing from sight. The dreamscapes of the Netherworld seemed to breathe lonliness, but Morning shut them out, her mind thinking back to events that were far less tranquil.

It was over two hundred years ago when she'd found Beyond. His human name back then escaped her, but the chaos that followed in his wake did not.

_It was the early 19th century, and a small village in Wales was in uproar._

_"I thought we'd killed them all!" A bearded, ginger man bellowed from the crowd. "Now you're telling me one of them survived?!"_

_The mayor shrugged. "Clearly one of them had been kept hidden."_

_"But that's a crime!"_

_"Calm down. Whoever hid this child will be punished."_

_"And the child?" A woman piped up from the front._

_"Will be put to death," The mayor said it flatly, his hands clasped behind his back._

_Morning pulled away from her position at the back of the crowd. So those random deaths were to do with the falling star's Shinigami, and the survivor was part of this little village. She had a good feeling she knew who it was. One boy always seemed to be standing away from the crowd, observing the others. He was often subject to teasing and mocking, it wouldn't surprise her if it were him._

_She knew the house, perched at the end of a little cul-de-sac with a dog chained outside. It barked at her as she opened the gate, but made no effort to come any closer. The wary look in its eye told her it knew what she was, unlike the people she lived amongst._

_Reaching up to the wire above the door, she tugged it and a bell rang inside the house._

_Curiosity. That's all it was. She couldn't allow this boy to be killed, not while there were still many questions she wanted answered. In all the centuries she'd been alive, not one of the children born under the falling star had survived. If the town's suspicions were confirmed, this would be the first one._

_The door opened, and a short, portly woman in a pinafore answered. She traced Morning with her eyes, clearly uncertain. The demon's presence in this town wasn't unknown, and she often received skeptical gazes from the locals for her odd behaviour and appearance, refusing to conform to the expected duties of the women of this era._

_"Can I help you?" The woman asked._

_Morning gave her a friendly smile, something she'd perfected over the years._

_"I have some bad news."_

_The woman narrowed her eyes. "I already know, but you're not killing him." She brandished a broom in what she hoped was a threatening manner._

_The demon shook her head. "I'm not here to kill him. I'm offering to take him away from here."_

_The woman raised an eyebrow, her words freezing before they left her mouth and coming out in a sharp breath._

_Morning glanced over her shoulder, putting on an act of anxiety._

_"They will find him, if you let me take him away I can assure you he'll survive."_

_The woman sighed sadly. "I was going to run away with him myself, but to be honest, I'm scared."_

_"Of being caught?"_

_"No." She looked over her shoulder briefly, then turned back to Morning and lowered her voice. "Of him."_

_Morning nodded. "Understandable."_

_"Can I trust you?" The woman had lowered her broom, but her body language gave her uncertainty away._

_"Do you have much choice?"_

_The woman pursed her lips, nodded curtly and called out behind her._

_The boy appeared behind her, small and nervous, no older than fourteen. His wild, dark hair spiked out and hung down over his face, almost masking his equally dark eyes. He cowered back when he saw Morning, but his eyes widening like saucers, though they weren't fixed on her face. They went to the spot above her head and he slowly retreated backwards into a room._

_"She's offering to get you out of here," His mother said. "Do you want to be killed?"_

_The boy poked his head out of the door, warily eyeing Morning. He looked up at his mother briefly._

_"Is she taking me away?"_

_Morning approached him slowly, watching him as he put on a brave face and braced himself. She fell into a squat as she reached him, fixing her violet eyes on his._

_"I'm offering to take you away from the bad people here who want to harm you."_

_"I can look after myself," He said flatly, but she sensed the uncertainty in his voice._

_"You killed a lot of people today, didn't you?"_

_He stared at her, and nodded stiffly. But he didn't voice an answer. The whole village knew he'd killed those children, the group that had mocked him for years. That made him an instant target and he knew it._

_"Pack your bag," She told him, standing up. "We don't have long; they'll be surrounding this place soon."_

_The boy quietly obeyed, scurrying to the stairs._

_The housewife cleared her throat, causing Morning to look at her._

_"Noir Nocturnis," She said. "That's what you call yourself, isn't it?"_

_Morning nodded, her eyes returning to the stairs. "Yes, but I'll change that when I leave. I can't have the risk of them finding us."_

_"Can you tell me? So I can find you?"_

_The demon sighed, scratching her hair. "I'll send you messages. I'm not taking any chances."  
Footsteps sounded above them as the boy raced down the winding, wooden staircase with a small bag on his back. He joined Morning's side and glanced anxiously up at his mother._

_She smiled awkwardly, but Morning noted she didn't look upset. Maybe she wanted to get rid of the child?_

_"Look after him," She told the demon._

_Morning opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off as voices rose into the air outside._

_"Oh great," She growled. "We'll have to take the back."_

_The boy's mother offered a brief farewell, waving them out of the back door and watching as they scaled the low wall into the adjoining field. It was empty, free from any farmers or livestock. They would have to be quick, and not take any breaks for hours. It wouldn't be long until the village noticed the absence of the boy and the strange red-haired woman._

Two centuries ago now. Morning stopped and leant against a winding, wiry tree that stretched up from the dingy red floor to the dark, three-mooned sky. If it weren't for her curiosity, none of this would be happening. Beyond would have been stopped at an early age, he wouldn't have become a demon and he wouldn't be causing her problems. It was a mistake. She knew curiosity often killed the cat, and she had told herself she would have to accept the consequences.

_When they finally stopped for the night, they were in a forest surrounded on all sides by tall pine trees and shrouded in darkness. The only light came from a gas lamp Morning had brought with her and placed carefully away from the trees. Luckily it was summer, and it wasn't too cold, but they were both wrapped in rough, grey blankets to provide them extra camouflage against prying eyes._

_Morning looked over at the boy who was watching a bat, fascinated, as it darted through the light to snatch up moths._

_"That's Abraxas," She told him._

_He nodded._

_"He follows me everywhere. He's been with me for a long time now."_

_He looked at her then, and she could see the unasked question on his face. Why would a bat be following her? But he didn't voice it, and she didn't answer._

_"We need to change our names," She told him. "That way, they'll have a harder time finding us." When he didn't answer, she went on, "I'll change mine to Morning Madness."  
"Alright," He said, fiddling with the edge of the blanket. He was thoughtful for a moment, not even questioning her use of a strange, inhuman name. "I'll be Beyond Birthday."  
She raised an eyebrow. "Really?" She nodded. "Okay. Beyond it is."_

_He looked up at her, tracing her outline with his eyes. "You're not human are you?"_

_Her heart leapt into her throat and she fixed her violet eyes on his. "What makes you ask that?"_

_"People don't like me because I can see their names and lifespans over their heads. But I can't see yours."_

_She stared at him, words failing her. Of all the centuries and eras she'd lived on the human world, not one had ever figured out she wasn't human. Staying briefly in various villages and towns, moving on every decade or so, she'd avoided the questions as to why she never aged, declaring her appearance completely natural and occasionally slipping back into the Netherworld to let the most boring of eras pass by. But now, one young teenager had figured it out._

_"I'm right, aren't I?" He looked away. "You aren't human."_

_"And you're not scared of me?" She asked._

_"Why would I be?" He leant back against a tree, watching the small bat's erratic flight pattern. "I'm not human either."_

Those words had stirred something in Morning that was akin to empathy. The young boy she'd taken away from his home had never been accepted, always thought of himself as different. 'Not human'. But little did she know the chaos he'd cause.

She pushed herself off the wiry tree and followed the red-stoned path that wound towards a distant sea, the mast of the ship just visible on the horizon.

Everywhere they went, death followed. Beyond was aware of his own name and lifespan, but Morning was not. They moved from town to town, making their way across Wales and towards England ever avoiding the mob that was tracking them. But Beyond was leaving a trail of carnage, and despite Morning's pleas he wouldn't stop.

Why? Because one evening during a stay in a small hotel, he pointed out that his own lifespan was increasing with each kill.

"They can't harm me!" He'd told her. "If I keep adding to my lifespan I will live forever!"

The maniacal child she'd taken under her wing had become her responsibility, and his discovery sparked yet more curiosity inside her. The years he took from his victims added to his own. Could he really live forever?

_During a stay at a hotel just outside Birmingham, Beyond had been out most of the night. Almost ten years had passed since they escaped from his home in Wales, but his trail of chaos hadn't ended. Beyond's fear of his own mortality was clear to her, and he strived at every opportunity to add to his own lifespan at the cost of hundreds of innocent lives. The news of the random killings had spread throughout Britain, each new death making the front page of the newspapers several of which were lay on the bedside table. The headlines declared the deaths as paranormal, unnatural, and, in some less skeptical cases, a new plague._

_Morning sat on the bed, knowing they would only have to move again later that night. She questioned herself frequently why she didn't just end the problem by killing Beyond, but there was no evidence to support that she was immune to his powers, and if she were to confront him she would probably end up dead herself. All she could do was keep an eye on him, at least that way she knew where he was and what he was up to. _

_The door flew open, startling her and sending Abraxas in spirals over her head, his ultrasonic cry of protest ringing in her ears._

_Beyond stood before the mirror, his eyes wide and semi-maniacal._

_"It's gone!" He said._

_Morning stood up. "What's gone?"  
"I can't see my name or lifespan anymore." A grin spread across his face and he spun to look at her. "I'm like you!"_

_Morning shook her head sharply. "That's impossible. You're human like everyone else. Maybe you just don't have the power anymore?"_

_He chuckled. "Oh I do. Look." He grabbed her hand and led her to the window, looking down at the world outside. He pointed to a passing woman. "Sarah Brown." The woman collapsed to the floor in a motionless heap, startling the people around her into fits of screams and panic._

_"Stop it," Morning said, placing her hand on his arm._

_His finger moved to a young man. "Brian McDonald." The man collapsed to the floor next to the still body of the woman, stirring up more panic in the streat as people scattered in fear of their lives. Beyond beamed, standing back from the window. "I've finally done it. I'm immortal!"_

_Morning turned slowly to look at him, her eyes scanning the man in front of her. It was impossible; immortality couldn't be gained like that. Could it? Had he pushed his lifespan so far ahead that he'd fallen into an entirely new category?_

_She shook her head, taking a step back. "This is impossible."_

_"It's great," He said, looking back out of the window. "I'll live forever now, just like you."_

_"You've damaged yourself." Morning sat heavily on the bed, her mind spiralling in a vain attempt to assess the situation. "What you've done is completely wrong."_

_He looked over at her, his hands resting on the windowsil. "I thought demons didn't care about right or wrong."  
"Beyond, you have the world in a chaotic uproar," She kept her voice low, but the anger was as clear as day. "You've caused all this mayhem just to extend your own life."_

_"And now the chaos can stop," He moved away from the window and joined her on the bed. "I don't have to kill any more."_

_Morning sighed, a combination of relief and frustration. She stood up and moved towards the door._

_"Come on, we're moving."_

_"Where to?"_

_"Somewhere a little more perminient."_

Morning kicked a loose stone out of the way, sending it bouncing off spindly trees and rocky outcrops until it disappeared into a thick cloud of sulphur. If she'd thought that was the end of her problems, she was wrong.

She often questioned why she kept Beyond around. After that incident, declaring he no longer needed to kill, she would have deemed it okay to leave him to his own devices. But something made her keep him around. Maybe it was still curiosity. A human had obtained immortality, something impossible. Something Alchemists tried and failed to obtain constantly. Why had Beyond succeeded?

Her answers came in shocking bursts, each one providing a clear and obvious piece to a puzzle.

_Morning had purchased a small, wooden house in the Lake District, a quiet place away from loud civilization. She helped a farmer in a local field, tending to crops and assisting in moving cattle. Beyond helped occasionally, though he was more occupied elsewhere. She never asked, just let him go about his own business. So long as he didn't cause trouble, she didn't really care. The past fourteen years had gone well, relatively quiet and uneventful._

_It actually wouldn't be that long now until she slipped back in to the Netherworld for the next century. She felt she'd experienced the 1800s enough now._

_As darkness started to fall, she made her way back home, Abraxas fluttering just ahead of her and sending random images of passing wildlife and wooden boats on the lake. The crisp, late November air bit at her face and she adjusted the scarf around her neck to sheild her against the rising wind._

_As she reached the wooden house, she opened the door and a sudden feeling of forboding washed over her. Her foot slipped against something moist on the floor, and she carefully stepped over it, reaching for the gas lamp. The flickering light cast the walls in dancing shadows and bounced off the wet red puddles on the floor. Sobs echoed around the room coming loudly from her left. She followed them, the ominous red patches increasing as she reached the sofa. Her eyes fell on Beyond huddled on the floor, shards of glass surrounding him. Blood dripped from his right hand, joining the puddles of vivid red on the floor._

_"What are you doing?" She yelped, grabbing his arm as she dropped to her knees on his left. She wrenched the scarf from around her neck, wrapping it firmly up the length of his arm._

_"It won't stop," He said, his voice merely a gasp. "I can't silence it, it won't stop."_

_She clutched his hand tightly, holding it over his head. "What are you talking about?"_

_"The screaming. It won't stop."_

_"Screaming?" She paused, staring at the mess around them and peicing things together. She slowly looked at him, his wide eyes fixed on the far wall and his cheeks streaked with smears of blood and tears. His breathing came in quick bursts as he battled with some kind of internal conflict. "You're hearing things?"_

_His free hand went to his hair and he grimaced. "Make it stop!"_

_He yanked his arm back with a roar, but she tightened her grip, desperate to restrain the flailing man._

_"Calm down!"_

_She tugged his arm back over his head with too much force, causing him to fall into her. His free arm wrapped around the back of her neck and she froze, releasing her grip on him and bracing herself for an attack._

_None came._

_He moved his wounded arm around her back and buried his face in her hair, his breathing slowing to a less erratic pattern._

_Comfort? Immortal or not, he was still human._

_She sighed, wrapping her arms loosely around him._

_"Have you done this before?"_

_He took a deep breath, his body shaking from stifled sobs and his fingers winding into her hair._

_"What's wrong with me, Morning?"_

_She stared down at the chaos of blood and broken glass, her mind working over the situation. Screaming, irrational actions resulting in attempted suicide. Her mind was a blank. She closed her eyes and ran her hand slowly down his back._

_"I wish I knew."_

That was her first clue. He was going mad, but as to why she was yet to find out.

She paused at the edge of the lake, standing on the jetty as she waited for the ship bobbing towards her in the distance. Its sails inflated with a wind from an unknown source which pushed it along in its endless back-and-forth journey. She watched the ship absently, her mind still recalling those turning points in her history.

Things quietened down after that. Beyond went back to what could pass as 'normal' for a couple of years, but she would never forget the next incident.

_Summer working in the fields was always a chore, the heat glaring down on her and causing her to flag severely after a mere hour of work. She leant on the handle of her scythe and stared out over the huge, yellow expanse of the Rapeseed field. This crop was in sudden high demand for its oil, used as a lubricant in the growing use of steam engines. Her farmer employer had jumped on the bandwaggon for producing Rapeseed and the field he'd chosen was massive. The vibrant yellow was enough to give someone a headache, and in this heat it was only amplified under the sun's rays. It would take a few days to harvest it all._

_She persevered and eventually the sun began to set, lighting up the sky with a vivid, red fire. The clouds spread across it in a dramatic grey and black, signalling a summer storm and bringing with the warning a coolness that made things feel a lot more tolerable. The journey home was a blessing, and she couldn't wait to collapse into the sofa. Her demonic stamina was phenomenal, not that she took much notice, but she couldn't help but wonder if most humans would probably be half dead by now._

_When she reached the wooden house, she stepped inside and made a beeline for the sofa, but a strange noise froze her in her tracks._

_Laughter. But it wasn't joyous laughter..._

_"Heh heh heh."_

_She stared at the door that joined the living room to a seperate downstairs room. One they rarely used. It was closed, like it often was. But the laughter was coming from the other side._

_"Hee hee hee..." Then a grumble which sounded like someone was scolding someone else with a hint of amusement._

_She strolled to the door and opened it, then her hand shot to her mouth._

_Beyond looked up at her from his position on the floor, leaning against the wall and hugging his knees. He was surrounded by several empty jars, his clothes smeared red with what Morning hoped was strawberry jam. But that wasn't what startled her._

_Lying on the floor were the bloodied remains of some poor, helpless blonde woman, her contents spread out on the floor on display like some gruesome black market._

_"Beyond... what are you doing?"_

_"Practicing my laugh."_

_She shook her head and gestured to the bloody mess. "I mean that! You said you wouldn't kill again. You didn't need to."_

_He followed her hand to the body, then looked up at her almost innocently._

_"But she was so pretty. I wanted to see if she was pretty on the inside."_

_Morning shook her head, backing out of the room._

_"You've gone insane."_

_He didn't answer._

_Slamming the door, she bolted across the room and stood on the porch, leaning against the door frame. The sky was still an abstract pattern of red and black and the sudden drop in temperature caused a flash of thunder across the sky._

_She watched the sunset for what felt like hours, wondering what on earth she was supposed to do with Beyond. He'd clearly gone mad, and her worries and doubts were being confirmed before her very eyes. Whatever was still human was locked away in his mind, tormented and driving him insane. She'd heard about damned souls going mad in their struggles against their captors, but none had driven a demon to insanity. That was probably because they were outside the demon's bodies, not inside. But how could a human damn themselves? It didn't seem possible. Something had gone wrong; he'd done something that had changed him from human to demon._

_A movement to her side alerted her to Beyond's presence, but he wasn't laughing any more. She glanced over at him. He wore a look of distress on his face, staring down at his stained hands and he was visibly shaking._

_"Get me out of here."_

_She stared at him for a moment before nodding and taking his hand, leading him from the house._

_But something deep inside her knew he wasn't referring to the building._

The boat pulled up to the jetty and a grey haired elderly man grinned at her from ear to ear, displaying two rows of shark-like teeth.

"Going across?"

"Yes."

Morning climbed onto the boat and handed the old demon a copper coin. She barely noticed the croud of worried souls that followed her, each one paying Ferryman before they took a seat. She stared down into the murky water, green and thick with algae.

In the years that followed, she travelled across England with Beyond, neither of them speaking of that grim night. Decade after decade passed, pushing the event further and further back until it was nothing more than a haunting memory. He was true to his word, he did never kill again. Not even when his madness consumed him, which happened in occasional short bursts. But as the years ticked on, they became more frequent and she always looked out for any signs he might cause unneccessary trouble. But he never did.

He was always nothing more than a travelling companion, someone who unexpectedly fell into demonic existance and needed to learn the ways and rules. Of course, the inevitable day their paths would separate always loomed on the horizon.

The boat lurched forwards, splitting the green scum as it passed over it briefly revealing some strange, rocky structure beneath the surface.

_Morning leant on the rail seperating the camp site from the sea, the waves licking the surface of the cliff as they swallowed up the beach. The rushing sound of the water drowned out the brass band playing in the distance, and the laughter of humans indulging in the ballroom celebrations. Footsteps to her right caused her to look up just as Beyond leant on the rail, the buckles from his coat sleeves creating a soft clang against the cold metal._

_"Peaceful," He said, staring out at the waves._

_She shrugged. "It's better than the loud party over there." She nodded behind her. "Is that where you've been?"_

_"Briefly."_

_She snorted, turning back to the rushing waves as they hit the cliff with an almighty crack, reaching up as if they wanted to drag the duo into the watery depths._

_"I've been thinking recently," Beyond said, dragging her attention back to him. "I've been around for almost a century now. Are demons completely immortal?"  
"Are you getting bored already?" She let out a mocking chuckle. "Seriously, you didn't really think things through did you?"  
He huffed, folding his arms across the barrier. "Not at all. But I remember you saying something a while back."  
"Everything can die, Beyond. Even demons. One just has to know how."_

_"Mind shedding some light?"_

_She looked over at him. His dark eyes were fixed on the ebbing tide, washing back and forth over the sand._

_"Where's this come from?"  
"I'm just curious. Considering our current line of work, it got me thinking."_

_Morning nodded. In the past few years they'd become freelance investigators into Victorian England's supersticions on wolfmen and vampires. Shockingly, they received a phenomenal amount of requests._

_She sighed. "I think it's common sense to believe nothing can survive without a head or a heart, but I wouldn't go around broadcasting it. The last thing we want is the locals to discover we're demons."_

_He nodded, but she wondered if he'd even heard her properly._

_"Impossible to live without a heart, huh?" He looked up at the sky. "Then I guess I'm dead then."_

_She watched him curiously, raising an eyebrow. "Are you being sentimental?"_

_He shrugged. "Perhaps."_

_"Is it some girl over at the ball?" She snorted laughter, looking back down at the water. "I wouldn't get too carried away, Beyond. Demons don't have feelings like that."_

_"Really." He shifted, pushing himself back from the rail with his hands. He stared into the water, a moment of painful silence. Then he turned away, placing his hands in his pockets. "Demons don't have feelings like that." He walked quietly away, vanishing into the crowd._

"Everybody off!"

Ferryman's voice rang out, snapping Morning out of her memories. She looked up from the water as the boat came to a halt at the shore. The confused rabble of spirits clambered off ahead of her to be greeted by waiting demons ready to lead them to their destined eternity of torment.

She sighed, shrugging off the scene.

That was the last time she'd seen Beyond. It was as though he had slipped off the face of the earth, and the Netherworld. There was no news in the papers about any mysterious deaths, and Morning found herself wondering if he'd actually killed himself.

But she didn't miss him, at least she didn't think she did. But she did find herself hoping desperately that no other child would survive the next falling star. Little did she expect to meet them.

In the passing decades she took on many aliases, taking on various roles to busy herself, never thinking back at her past experiences with the 'shinigami'. It had just been another experience to add to her list. Yet, for some reason, when she met L she took on the name Morning Madness again...

"Well well well." That voice made her eyes snap up, meeting the familiar grinning face of Beyond, currently tucking in to a jar of jam. He licked his fingers, keeping his eyes on hers. "You took your time."

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**Anyone still here? There's only two chapters left after this one. I've written one, which needs proofing, and I plan to write the other before Monday (or it will be over a week because I have a friend visiting, and I'm not planning on leaving them to their own devices for huge chunks of time X3 )**

**Personal thanks to Thisisianhecox for the review, it encouraged me to upload today!**

**As always, please R&R, oh invisible readers! X3**


	19. Web

**Interesting thing - despite having had this idea for a while, the conversation in this chapter didn't go anything like it does in this. Basic plot elements remained the same, but it told itself, and I was writing thinking "where has all this come from?!" Clearly, the answer was "Your own mind, Del." But, I wasn't expecting it. It worked, however. **

**There were a few surprised mutterings from my proof reader who, by the end of it, sat back and said "Interesting." I hope this has the same effect on you X3**

**Well, please read on, and enjoy! There's only one more chapter after this. Which I am being mean and not uploading yet! XP**

**Disclaimer - I do NOT own Death Note!**

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Morning fixed Beyond with a fierce, violet stare, clenching her fists so tight her nails cut crescents into her palms. It took every ounce of self control to not kill him there and then.

"Have you come to mock me some more?" She growled through clenched teeth.

"Not exactly." He examined the inside of the now empty jar and, with a shrug, tossed it into the lake. "I said I'd help you, didn't I?"  
"I'd hardly call anything you provide 'help'."

She stuffed her hands into her pockets and turned away from him, walking through the crowd of confused spirits.

"You can't get back out without this."

She looked back at him. He was leaning against the cliff, dangling the pendant from his fingers.

"Keep it. I know where I can get another."

She turned away again, but his voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Will you get it on time?"

_Time_... she bristled, her entire body going cold. Of course, time flowed differently here. She had to be quick...

She looked back at him, still wearing that amused smirk.

"Then why did you run off?"

"You told me to leave, so I gave you some space." He tucked the key away. "I was always going to come back, but you moved on – so I waited here."

Morning sighed and rubbed her temples. "Fine. But, if you're going to help me, you'll have to behave."

He chuckled, sending chills down her spine again. Then he moved over to her, placing a hand on her back and guiding her through the crowd.

"Oh, Morning, you have some strange requirements."

Morning tried not to flinch at his touch, instead focusing on getting away from the lake and the now clearly frightened spirits. The green, translucent beings parted away from them, fixing them with wary eyes. She knew their existance would be short lived. Twisted, abnormal and hellish beings were gathering on the cliff tops, leering down at the spirits with hungry eyes. Those that made it away from the demons would likely become part of the scenary, not dissimilar to Beyond's earlier nightmare.

She shook her head, dismissing the unpleasant thought and turning to Beyond.

"You're not going to unleash any more tricks on me, are you?"

He laughed, removing his hand from her back to place them in his tailcoat pockets.

"How can you be sure what you're experiencing now isn't an illusion, Little Bat?"

She ground her teeth together and looked away from him. She was almost certain this wasn't an illusion, but she wouldn't put it past him.

"Are we any closer to this 'cure'?" She asked.

He was thoughtful for a moment, almost mockingly. The silence caused frustration to flare in her and she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He was staring at the floor with a sombre expression, but before she could voice her concern he noticed her gaze and fixed her with a satisfied grin.

"Oh, definitely." His voice was almost a purr. "Just follow me."

He moved ahead of her, diverting from the path and heading towards the cliff face. Morning hesitated for a moment as she watched him approach the rocky structure. Something seemed odd, but she wasn't going to get out of the Netherworld any time soon without that key. She could probably overpower him now, and take it back by force. It would mean her time here was a waste, but at least she could return to earth with enough time to say goodbye...

She flinched as a sharp twinge shot through her chest, her hand darting up to try and stifle it. _Not here_... Shaking it off, she looked up at Beyond, who was now perched on a large rock that jutted out from the face of the cliff. He beckoned for her to join him.

With a sigh, she reluctantly moved forwards and began to scale the precarious wall. He reached out to help her, but she batted the hand away.

"You're fully aware I'm a fantastic climber." She scrambled passed him up the rock and paused to smile back down. "You could call it a trade profession."

She turned her attention back to climbing, ignoring the outrageous laugh that exploded from Beyond. Her focus was only broken when rocks began to crumble and fall around her, and she caught a glimpse of blue as he bounded up the rocky outcrop with dexterity she wouldn't even expect from a mountain lion. He perched at the top and grinned at her.

With a sigh, she pressed on, avoiding a deformed, rat-like demon as it sped past her to land on its unsuspecting prey below. When she finally reached the top, she dragged herself up beside Beyond and stood up, dusting red debris from her black coat.

"So, why did you drag me up here?"

He smirked over his thumb at her and slowly nodded to a large void in the top of the mountain. It was similar to what one would expect to find in a volcano, only this seemed a lot more ominous. She peered over the edge, but saw only blackness.

"There's nothing here!"

He joined her side, peering over her shoulder. "Oh, would you look at that. I guess we're in the wrong place."

She took a step back, anger bubbling inside her once more. She clenched her fist and growled. "You know what, Beyond, you're..."

Before she could finish her sentence, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly to his body. Then he spun on his heel and fell backwards into the hole, the sharp pull of gravity snatching her breath away. Everything moved so quickly her mind went blank as it tried to process the situation. He released one arm from her to reach out at some unseen object. Feral instinct kicked in and she battled to release herself from the mad demon. Suddenly, he was on top of her and he flashed her a grin before giving her a firm shove to the chest and sending her plummetting ahead of him.

The world distorted into a green hue, unidentifiable structures swooshing past her eyes as she fell. She came to a halt as her body collided with something springy, then her ears rang with a vibrating _twang_, as it let her sink slowly into it. She struggled, worried it was going to give way and send her falling further into the mountain. Thankfully it resisted and she let out a sigh and sat up... or would have sat up if she could. Her arms were held firmly in place, spread-eagled out to the sides of her body. Her heart raced as she realised it wasn't just her arms, but her legs also immobile.

_Okay, Morning, calm down. Where are you?_

She took a deep breath and scanned her surroundings. A green mist seemed to mask everything with that eerie green. Balconies were above her, each one holding rows and rows of chairs. A huge chandalier hovered above her, half melted candles hanging from their holders, yet not one of them was lit. A stray ray of light leaked in through a broken window, but if it were sunlight or moonlight she couldn't say. She swallowed audibly as realisation dawned. She was in the abandoned theatre.

A vibration alerted her to movement on her left, and she turned her head to try and spot what it was. Beyond was crawling slowly towards her, and as he reached her side a look of bewilderment crossed his face as he took in her situation.

"Huh, you appear to be caught in a giant web."

She glared at him, the innocent look of surprise doing nothing to quell her rising rage. He knew this was here, and he'd tricked her yet again.

"I didn't think bats could get stuck in webs," He went on, unable to restrain the beginning of a smile. "Not even little bats."

She was right; he had tricked her. With a roar, she flailed against the sticky prison, but it was pointless. She was held fast.

"You shouldn't struggle. It will only make things worse." He began to circle her, crawling on his hands and feet, each movement causing the web to shudder. An unnerving look of hunger flared in his eyes. "You know what happens to a fly when its caught in a web, don't you? The more it struggles, the more the web tangles around it until the spider comes along and devours it."

Morning broke her attention away from the crawling demon to search the shadows at the edge of the web. What had made this thing? If there were some giant spider demon lurking in those shadows, surely it would have made an appearance by now? Even if demons didn't prey on one another, there was nothing to prove she was safe.

"Anything that spins a web isn't to be trusted. Its creator is always lurking somewhere, waiting to come out and strike when its prey is most vulnerable." The sickening shuddering stopped as he came to a halt. "I've been caught in a similar web myself, so I should know. Breaking free was the best thing I did. It wasn't easy, however, and it left a few scars."

At those words, Morning tore her eyes off Beyond and checked the web. Each strand was thick as a pencil, and they were wound firmly around her wrists. There was no way she could snap free of these. Even her claws wouldn't be able to shred them.

"You see, spiders aren't the only things that spin webs," He began to move again, continuing his circling. "Can you guess what else spins webs, Little Bat?"

She looked up at him, but he wasn't watching her anymore, his attention fixed on the area above their heads. She followed his gaze, wondering if there was some giant predator waiting in the rafters. Obviously not amused by her silence, he paused and cleared his throat to get her attention.

"The answer, Morning, is anything that speaks. Humans, demons, angels; they all spin webs, Little Bat. Webs of lies."

She looked back down at the web, then back at Beyond as she tried to put the puzzle together. "I thought you didn't lie."

He looked down at the web, a hint of amusment in his eyes. "Oh, these aren't my lies."

"But you have lied! You said you'd help me, but instead all you've done is lead me into traps!"

Beyond shook his head, tutting quietly. "You misunderstood me, Little Bat. I believe what I said was that, if you wanted my help, I'd keep hold of your key until I said you can go." He said, nibbling on his thumbnail. "I've not said you can go yet."

Morning roared, struggling against her confines again. "Just let me go, we're wasting time!"

"We?"

Warmth spread up her body as Beyond crawled on top of her, fixing his dark eyes on hers. An unsettling smirk spread across his face and he chuckled.

"You're forgetting something, Little Bat. I can come and go as I please, but you're stuck here."

With that, he bounded over her head and vanished from sight as the web's vibrations came to a halt. Then they started up again as he reappeared and vanished into the shadows. Shortly after, he pounced over her like a horse jumping a fence, then reappeared in a mere few seconds by her head.

"See? I've just spent several days back on earth. That should give them something to do." He crawled past her, muttering something about an angel giving him a hard time and paused at her feet.

"What do you mean..." Morning asked slowly, straining to look up at him, "By 'give them something to do'?"

He looked back at her, and something felt very wrong. He was no longer adorned in that blue suit. Instead he was sporting a pair of jeans and a white longsleeved shirt. A feral hunger seemed to fill his eyes and her heart almost stopped.

"I've been having a bit of fun," He let out a small chuckle. "I do like games."

"Games?" Her mouth filled with the metallic taste of fear.

"Yes." He fixed his dark eyes on hers and he grinned. "Have you managed to solve my puzzle yet?"

Her eyes widened. Puzzle? Anger flared in her chest and she struggled against the confines, her body prickling as she battled the urge to shape shift.

"Now, now, what did I say about struggling?" Beyond purred.

"So it was you? You're the murderer?" She paused, panting to get her breath. "L was right. You know what, Beyond, I should have killed you years ago, back when I had the chance!"

"Oh, that hurts." Before she could blink, he was on top of her again, one hand on either side of her head. Maniacal rage blazed in his eyes causing her blood to turn to ice. "Why do you insist on hurting me, Morning? You feed me lies, pretending you actually care, but you're just full of poison." He shook his head slowly and looked away. "I've not once hurt you."

"You're doing so now." He didn't look back down at her. "Do you really think trapping me here is achieving anything?"

"Yes." He fixed his fierce eyes on hers. "With you trapped here, I can claim L and take Ryusei under my wing."

"You wouldn't!" Blind panic coursed through her and she struggled, becoming more tangled in the web and almost causing Beyond to topple on top of her.

He let out a chilling, low laugh. "I'm sure he'd be happier with me anyway, and it also keeps the girl out of your toxic clutches."

A lone tear leaked out of her eye and trickled down her face. "Why are you doing this?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He growled. "I want to protect her! I want to keep her safe from the same lies you fed me. I never left you, I stuck around watching you for decades and not once did you come looking for me. You never cared! I was just an experiment to you. Then she comes along and you treat her the same, pretend you're looking out for her and keep her hidden away all safe. But how long until you get bored? Or will you kill her like you wish you did me?"

"Killing isn't my answer, it's yours. _You're_ the monster, not me!"

The anger ebbed from his eyes and he looked away. "You think I'm a monster?"

"You kill without even thinking about it! You don't even regret it. You've gone completely insane."

His eyes flashed threateningly as he fixed his stare back on hers. "Well, I have you to thank for that too!"

"How is it my fault?! You wanted immortality! You're the one who damned yourself!" She closed her eyes, trying to stop the tears that were now flowing freely. "I should have killed you..." Her voice was merely a whisper.

"What?"

He pulled back from her slightly and when she opened her eyes she found the anger he'd been holding in his gaze had faded.

"I said I should have killed you. It would have been mercy."

He looked away from her and sighed. "You really wish me dead."

When she didn't say anything, he climbed off her and moved away slowly across the web.

"Beyond, wait! Let me go!"

"Why should I?" He looked back at her, but the expression on his face was unreadable. "I'm going back up there and finishing what I set out to do."

She screamed, thrashing and causing the entire web to shake. "I'd rather he vanished than was damned by you!"

"Oh really? Well I'm sorry to tell you, Little Bat, that not all stories have happy endings."

"I never should have believed you'd help me." She took a deep breath to steady the sobs that were threatening her body. "You could at least let me out to say goodbye."

He snorted. "Demon's aren't sentimental creatures." He turned to look at her. "We don't have feelings like that."

She froze, meeting his gaze as his words sank in. The same words she'd told him over a century ago. "Fine, I was wrong! I didn't know back then. I had no idea..."

He shook his head and looked away from her.

"Please, Beyond, just let me go!"

He moved closer until he was a mere couple of feet from her, watching her curiously like a cat would watch a mouse. She was no longer struggling now, becoming a victim to her own tears.

"Tears for a human. Just what exactly is he to you?"

Silence.

"Exactly." He turned and crawled away.

"I love him!"

He froze, slowly looking back at her and falling into a squat.

Her eyes were fixed on the chandalier, tears still streaking down her face. Her words had even shocked herself, having refused to admit it for years. 'Demons don't have feelings like that.' She'd really believed it, and she was wrong.

She caught a movement out of the corner of her eye as Beyond raised an arm. The web was violently retracted and she dropped from that height, landing painfully on her back on the theatre's floor. He landed on his hands and feet a few feet away and stood up to move towards her.

Struggling to her feet, she faced him, dusting off her coat the residue from the web and the clumps of dust from the manky floor.

"So you let me go," She said flatly. "Why?"

"Here." He handed the amulet to her, but as she reached for it he pulled it back. "Remember, you can often gift what you take from others."

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"

He took her hand and pressed the amulet into her palm. "What you take from others can sometimes be given back to someone else."

She stared at the black jewel and closed her hand around it, his words sinking in. Her eyes widened and she looked up at him.

"Ryusei!"

Turning her back on him, she bolted towards the wall as the swirling void appeared in the form of a door. She stumbled out onto the streets of London, cast in the darkness of night. But it wasn't cold like it had been when she left.

Beyond appeared beside her as the giant clock rang out the time; with each eerie chime the street seemed darker.

Morning pulled her mobile out of her pocket. Eleven pm... November 24th! Her jaw dropped.

"I only have one hour!"

Beyond grinned. "The race is still on."

* * *

**Who would have thought he felt like that? =O And were anyone's suspicions on the murders confirmed? I was trying not to make it too obvious X3**

**So, when do you want the final chapter? =P I have a friend staying for a few days, but I'm sure I'll find time to read over it, correct mistakes and upload. I'm an early riser, he's not X3**

**Please R&R!**


	20. Case Closed

**Here it is! The final chapter to this fanfic, and the end of this little story arc I've been working on since April. I'm going to miss this storyline, and the characters... I don't have any prequels, follow up stories or one-shots planned, but that's not to say one can't get nostalgic and write unexpectedly!**

**Do read on, because any questions that may have cropped up while you were reading this story may be answered very shortly! **

**Disclaimer - I do NOT own Death Note!**

* * *

Morning hit the dial button and took off at high speed down the dimly lit street. She could hear Beyond scampering along behind her, unseen in the shadows, but she had bigger things to worry about. The monotonous ringing blared in her ear as she waited for the recepient to pick up.

"Morning?"

"Ryusei!" The demon let out a sigh of relief. Going off the tone of her voice, the girl had clearly been wide awake before she answered the phone.

"Is that you?" Ryusei's voice was thick with excitement and she strained to be heard over the frantic voices of those around her. "Where have you been? Matsuda, get off my phone!"

"Ryusei!" Morning barked. "This is important. Can you get somewhere the others can't hear you?"

The other voices faded with yells of protest as a door clicked loudly shut. She imagined Ryusei had probably slammed it for emphasis.

"What's wrong?" The girl asked. "You sound upset."

"Listen to me, Ryusei, and don't let on to anyone who might be listening what I am about to tell you."

"Okay."

"I know how we can save L."

Silence.

"As you are fully aware," Morning continued, "You add to your lifespan the years of those you kill. Apparently, you can give those years to someone else."

"What!?" Ryusei's voice was shrill and shaking.

"That's what I've discovered. If you can somehow make someone's numbers increase, you'll be extending their own life."

"It's impossible! I can't do that!"

"Yes you can!" Morning took a deep breath, trying not to slow as she took a corner. "Just try, it's our only hope."

"But it's impossible!" Ryusei wailed.

"Ryusei-"

"Just like with you, I can't see anything over his head!"

Morning faltered, coming to an abrubt halt. She cursed loudly down the phone, running a hand through her hair.

"Then why... I'll be right there."

She hung up and stuffed the phone into her coat pocket. Had she been lied to? Ridiculous. Beyond never lied. Catching her breath, she took off again, focusing all her attention on reaching the ICPO before midnight.

The streetlamps blurred around her, their light creating an otherworldly fog across the buildings. A steady thump-thump alerted her to Beyond's presence as he kept up with her unnatural pace somewhere above her head.

Then there was a flash.

She skidded to a halt as a white being cut across her path and dashed across the road. A pair of white wings spread out on either side of his body as he leapt up onto the rooftops, sizing up against the other demon.

Morning watched, her violet eyes wide, as Light clenched his fists, a look of furious determination in his golden eyes. Beyond straightened up to face him, one leg behind him to turn and run if need be. Morning glanced down the street, completely empty and merely a short run at her speed to the ICPO. But then... she looked back up at the angel as he advanced on Beyond, causing him to take a step back. He wasn't going to fight. She clenched her teeth as she tried to make the right decision: help Beyond and risk being late to save L, or abandon him here to Light's mercy? Despite all the trouble he'd caused her, it wasn't an easy choice. She looked back up at him and he caught her gaze, meeting her eyes briefly before the angel caught him off guard, tearing his attention back as he leapt out of the way.

With a sharp shake of her head, Morning turned and ran. Her heart was racing, a combination of exertion and blind panic. She wasn't sure if Beyond could deal with the angel himself, but L needed her more.

Turning onto a brightly lit street brought the ICPO building into clear view. She slowed to a more human pace as a car rumbled by. Clearing the distance between herself and the building's glass doors in a few mere strides, she made a beeline for the elevator. The receptionist's joyous greeting fell on deaf ears as she endured the wait for the metal doors to open. The chime as it reached her seemed unaturally loud. When she was finally let out on the office floor, the entire office cheered causing her to leap out of her skin. She sobered quickly as he eyes fell on L. Sidestepping a flying Matsuda, she raced to his side, ignoring the loud crash as the officer collided with a filing cabinet.

"Morning," L said. "Where have you been?"

The demon fell into a chair, gasping for air.

"You look like you've run a marathon," Matsuda said as he returned to his desk.

"I've been busy," She said. "But I'm back now."

She glanced up at the clock and her heart sank. Five minutes. She looked over at Ryusei, meeting the girl's golden gaze. The girl shook her head sadly, and Morning closed her eyes sinking further into her chair. She couldn't have failed...

'_Well I'm sorry to tell you, Little Bat, that not all stories have happy endings._'

"You've missed most of the meeting," L told her. She felt him take her hand and she opened her eyes, but he didn't look up at her. "The others can fill you in."

The brief, momentary joy in the atmosphere had crashed around her like lead as every expression became sombre. They all knew. They'd known for years. But she knew L had always wanted to leave quietly, he'd not wanted all this attention. So why was he still here, in this office? As if in answer to her unvoiced question, he squeezed her hand gently.

She sighed, squeezing his hand back. "I'm sorry I took so long."

"Where have you been, Morning?" Matsuda asked, rather too loudly. "It's been chaos here with all these murders! We could have used your eyes!"

Aizawa sighed loudly, restraining himself from coming up with a scathing remark.

Morning shut him out as she braced herself for the inevitable, keeping a firm grip on the detective's hand in a vain attempt to keep him with her.

What happened next happened all too suddenly.

First, she felt the grip on his hand lessen.

Then he toppled from his chair.

The chaos that followed was too much for even a demon's mind to keep up with.

* * *

Ryusei watched the madness with wide eyes, slipping slowly off Near's lap to take a timid step forwards.

Morning's violet eyes landed on her from amongst her crowding co-workers.

"Ryusei!"

She shook her head. "It's hopeless, Morning, I..." She looked down at L and her eyes slowly widened as she noticed the one thing that had been missing before. "Oh!"

With two strides she landed at his side, but her mind was a blank. Every time she'd accidentally killed someone, the numbers had ended at zero and released her focus. This time, that familiar snag she'd grown accustomed to was weak. Her reaction that resulted in killing people was linked to pure panic. Any control she had was merely to stop herself before her mind reduced those numbers. Her power had never caused anything but trouble, how could it help her now? A lump rose in her throat and she took a deep breath to steady herself.

'_Okay, Ryusei. This is no time for tears. Don't panic, just try._'

She stared at that lone, final zero, trying to find some way to make it increase. Will it to increase. Nothing.

Her heart sank. She was helpless. Sadness flooded her as she realised what was happening. The man who'd taken her in and helped her when she needed it now needed her, and she could do nothing to help him.

"I'm sorry." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, burying her face into his neck. "I'm trying."

She heard Morning slump to the floor opposite her, but she was silent. Ryusei's words hadn't been aimed at her. Tears leaked from her eyes and she clutched the detective tighter, the vibrant zero still burning in her mind. With all the mental strength she had, nothing would make that number increase.

"Ryusei." She felt a warm hand on her shoulder, reassuring and comforting.

Her mind relaxed, then her breath came out of her in a sudden gasp as numbers flashed across her vision. All her energy flooded out of her and she battled to regain strength, desperately willing the chaos to stop.

The window exploded.

Everything went black.

* * *

"Ryusei!" Near gathered the girl's motionless body into his arms.

L breathed heavily as Morning gently pulled him up.

"Are you alright?" She asked him.

He just nodded slowly, too weak to answer.

The sound of glass shards tinkled across the floor as the pieces settled. All eyes fixed on the being that crouched amongst them. His wild eyes flickered around the room, taking in the scene.

"Who are you?" Matsuda yelled, rising to his feet. "Oh my gosh, are there two L's now?!"

The other officers joined him, staring wide-eyed at the intruder as they whipped guns out of their belts.

"Leave him!" Morning barked, bringing the officers to a halt. "We have bigger things to worry about." She looked over at Near who still held Ryusei tightly. "Is she okay?"

He nodded.

Ryusei opened her eyes, looking up at Near. A look of fear crossed her face.

"It's gone."

"Gone?"

She pulled away from him, her frantic eyes darting from each of her colleagues as the colour drained quickly from her cheeks.

"They're gone! I can't see anyone's name or lifespan any more!"

Huddling up to Near, she held him tightly, her breath coming in quick bursts.

The other officers had moved to surround her instead, voicing concerns and reassurance.

Morning tore her attention from them to Beyond, who was still crouching amongst the broken glass, but the expression on his face was unreadable.

"Morning."

She turned back to L as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her towards him.

"I missed you."

She clung to him, unable to find the right words to describe the relief that flooded her. She'd done it! No... _Ryusei _had done it.

An abrupt cough caused her to jump and she loosened her hold on L, her mind returning to the demon at the window. That sound... something was wrong.

She pulled away from L to look at Beyond. He stared wide-eyed at his hand, dripping with bright red blood. More blood ran from his mouth, and his free hand clutched his chest.

"Hey, are you alright?!" Matsuda had returned to his feet, looking at the male demon with concern.

Beyond's eyes were frantic, leaping from Morning, to L, to Ryusei, then up at Matsuda. He turned sharply and leapt from the window.

Morning followed after him, leaning over the jagged remnants of glass jutting wickedly from the wooden frame. Beyond landed at the base of the building, racked by another cough before he raced across the street just as a lorry passed over him. Her heart sank, but there was no sign of him after the lorry passed.

She looked back at L and her other colleagues. "I'm sorry, I'll be right back."

"Morning, is he..." Ryusei's voice was weak and shakey.

The demon looked back at her, her eyes reflecting her concern. She dropped from the window, landing on all fours and bolting across the road. She had no idea where he would retreat to.

'_Abraxas!_'

The bat joined her, fluttering past her head and zigzagging through the light cast by the streetlamps.

'_Find Beyond._'

Abraxas zipped away from her, his ultrasonic signal painting a view of the streets in her mind. She followed after him, twisting and winding through the London streets.

The park came into view, its familiarity masked by the darkness. It had a haunting atmosphere, trees and plants poking out of the rails like the hands of caged victims. A familiar winged figure was peering through the bars, searching for something.

"Light!"

The angel looked at her, and she took a step back.

"Good grief..."

Half of his face was blue and frost bitten, a few of the hairs in his bangs still wet from melted ice. Fury flared in his golden eyes and he looked away from her sharply.

"He certainly got you," Morning said, joining his side.

"I'll get him back." The danger in his voice made her skin prickle.

"No." She looked up at him, but didn't flinch back from his fierce stare. "Please, leave him to me."

He sighed loudly and looked away from her. "He needs bringing to justice, Morning."

She nodded, turning her attention back to the fence. "Let me talk to him first."

"Fine. I'll wait here."

She nodded again, bracing herself to enter the park. It was closed, but that didn't provide a problem. She scaled the fence in a single leap, opening herself to Abraxas' signal. She followed his directions through the massive, dark park. Despite its size, she didn't have to search for very long. The dark patches of blood on the floor led her along a sandy path towards a group of trees and bushes located across from the small flower garden. She spotted Abraxas fluttering in circles above a drooping tree, its branches providing a curtain over a wide clearing.

She pushed the branches aside and found Beyond sitting on the bare dirt, hugging his knees. He fixed his wild, panicked eyes on hers, but made no effort to move. Blood soaked his white shirt and covered his hands, one of which she noticed was burnt, presumably from his battle with Light.

Her eyes scanned his body, assessing his situation. She'd never actually seen this happen before; it had often been dismissed amongst demons as a myth, but seeing him like this made every piece of the puzzle fall into place.

The crazed mass murderer huddled before her had been leaving a puzzle, a trail, a chain of events all linked together with the same clue – Wonderland. A children's story to cover up a more complex message, one that had never been aimed at L. He was just a link to the real recepient – her.

Missing hearts, victims drained of blood, nothing more than a morbid symbol of loneliness. Emptiness. It was obvious now. The only way he'd been able to express himself was with the only way he knew would actually get her attention. His killings has always distressed her, and he'd exploited that perceived weakness to send her this scrambled message, hoping she'd show enough interest to work it out.

She'd been too late.

The minute he'd noticed that the three people he'd had his eyes on were no longer available to him, his feeble demon heart shattered like the glass window. Ryusei no longer had the 'shinigami' power, L had been given life, possibly more than any other mortal on this planet due to Ryusei's ability, and once he was gone she would likely follow.

This left Beyond alone once again.

Heartbreak. It had been a myth amongst demons, because all of them believed as a rule that they didn't have feelings like that.

Demon or not, Beyond had originally been human. That left him instantly weakened by the demonic resistance against such emotions.

And she'd had no idea.

Strength left her body and she fell to her knees next to him.

"Beyond... I'm so sorry."

He looked away from her, staring at the blood soaked patch of earth beneath his feet. She followed his gaze and knew instantly that this was where he'd hidden all his evidence. She no longer cared. This damaged man had been her responsibility for over two centuries, and she'd failed him.

Grabbing his shoulders with both hands, she pulled him towards her, catching him off guard as he fell into her. She held him tightly against her body, wrapping both arms around him and running a hand through his unusually soft hair.

"Why didn't you say anything?" She asked.

He wrapped his arms around her neck, hiding his face in her hair.

"I tried."  
She sighed. "I'm too late, aren't I?"

He didn't answer, just tightened his arms around her as if afraid she might vanish at any moment.

"Don't worry. I won't let you go through this alone."

He wound his fingers into her hair, his body shaking violently.

"I'm scared. I don't want to become nothing..."

'_Nothing_'... She ran her hand down his back slowly. That was the fate all demons had to face.

"You won't become nothing." She stared blankly at the shadows cast by the foliage. "When a demon dies, any soul they damned is released. Unless another demon claims it, it's free."

He took in a long, quiverring breath. "Finally."

Morning was silent, hoping her words had provided some comfort to the frightened creature. She knew she was right, but part of her was worried the torment wouldn't be over. He'd suffered enough.

"Morning?"

His voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she let out a grunt of aknowledgement.

"Tell me you love me."

"Huh?" She moved to look at him, but he kept his arms wrapped tightly around her.

"No one's ever told me that before. I want to know what it feels like... to have someone say those words to me."

She fixed her eyes back on the shadows, letting his words sink in. She had to face it, all those times she could have killed him, but didn't. Letting him stick around her for decades, unable to raise a hand to him whenever he confronted her. Wasn't it obvious? She closed her eyes, adjusting her arms around him and holding him tightly.

"Beyond, of course I love you. I always have."

"Oh, Morning." His voice came out as a sigh, running a hand through her hair.

"You're like family to me." Her voice choked.

His grip loosened around her, and tears leaked from her eyes, landing on the back of his shirt. She lifted him off her, lying him on the ground as she wept. She wiped the tears away with the back of her hand and stood up, her legs shaking. She wasn't going to leave him like this. A look around her surroundings confirmed that the park was dark and empty. She'd need her claws.

After what felt like hours, she stumbled out of the bushes, her hands caked with dirt. She looked back once, the area now marked with a large rock and some blue flowers she'd dug up from the small garden. She released the branches of the trees and turned her back on it, stuffing her hands into her pockets and making her way from the park.

Abraxas was quiet, fluttering around over her head in a sombre silence. As they moved further away from the grave, he broke out into song. One would think that bats don't mourn or sing, but his mournful melody filled the air drawing more bats from the trees to circle slowly overhead. The crowd followed them across the park, retracing the steps she'd taken only a couple of hours before. Dragging her aching body over the fence, Light caught her on the other side.

"Where is he?" The fury vanished from his eyes as he took in her appearance – tear stained cheeks, hands and clothes stained with blood and dirt. He released her, taking a step back. "I'm sorry."

She turned away from him, thrusting her hands back into her pockets as she followed the road back to the ICPO.

The angel joined her side and they walked in silence for a few minutes until Light finally broke it.

"You've done it."  
"What?" Her voice was laced with a combination of anger and sadness.

"Saved L," He said. "I thought it would be impossible but you did it."

She grunted a sound of agreement. "I didn't do it alone."  
The angel looked at her.

"Ryusei did it. She broke her own curse in the process." Morning looked up at the sky, still filled with circling bats and a song unheard by human ears. "If Beyond knew that were possible, why didn't he offer to do it?"

Light shrugged. "Maybe he wanted Ryusei to do it."

Morning looked at him, but it made sense. He'd suffered for years, and he knew Ryusei didn't want to live forever. Despite his fear of death and need for companionship, had this been a humble act? A sacrifice for the happiness of others? She groaned, running a hand through her hair. It was enough to give her a headache.

"Another question, Light, would be _why _did it break Ryusei's curse?"

The angel shrugged. "Maybe the use of the 'shinigami' power to extend the life of another is enough to destroy the curse. Interesting really, considering Shinigami are renown for their ability to take life."

"I guess that makes sense."

Light looked at her. "They aren't going to be too happy back home, you know."

Morning snorted. "Since when were angels ever happy with demons?"

"Believe it or not, angels are more accepting than many believe. I think, in your case, they'd understand."

As the ICPO came into view, Light stopped and turned to Morning.

"My job here is finished. I suppose I'd better go back."

The demon nodded. "Thanks for... walking me home."

"Any time."

She moved away from him as he silently slipped back into Celestria.

When she stepped back on to the office floor, every question fired into the air went unheard. Her mind was elsewhere. She approached L's computer, the case file for The Wonderland Murders still on the screen, and struck the delete key.

"What are you doing?" He asked. Going off the tone of his voice, his energy had come back rather quickly.

"It's solved." She looked at him. "We don't need it any more."

"What do you mean?" Matsuda piped up from his desk.

"It was Beyond," She said, turning away from him. "But he's of no threat to us any more."

"What?" The small voice came from the back of the office where Ryusei was sitting huddled up to Near. "What happened to Beyond?"

Morning's expression must have been enough to answer the girl's question, as she cowered back, her sleeve going to her mouth.

"No..." She turned to weep on Near's shoulder.

Voices threw more questions at Morning as she left the office, striking the button for the elevator. Abraxas landed on her shoulder, his small chirps and trills resounding in her ears. When the elevator opened, she stepped inside and the door jarred as L held it open to join her. The chrome box swallowed the pair of them, carrying them up to their floor.

"I thought you'd like some company," L told her when she didn't speak up. "Is he...?"  
Morning nodded, leaning back against the cool metal.

"I'm sorry." He stared at the doors and sighed. "If you don't mind me asking, is that what you were doing the whole time? Trying to save me?"  
"Yes." The elevator pinged, letting them step out into the corridor.

"That's very sweet."

She looked up at the detective briefly as she rummaged through her pocket for her door key.

"I would hardly call it sweet." She found it and unlocked her door. "Humans have a funny way of viewing things."

"And I didn't think demons went around saving lives."

Her hand froze on the doorknob and her shoulders slumped. "We can't save them all."

"Would you like me to leave you alone?"

She looked round to find L staring at the floor, his hands in his pockets.

"I've experiened something today that's made me realise just how dangerous you are to me." She paused as he looked up at her, but she didn't meet his eye. "It's frightening, really. It's something even humans don't understand, so how a demon's meant to deal with it is beyond me. I suppose that's why we abstain from such things. Yet... for some reason, I don't want to run away." She looked back at the doorknob, her hand still resting on the cool metal. "It took me a while to realise it, but..." She sighed. "I've admitted this before, why's it so hard?"

L moved beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder and slowly turning her to face him. He moved his hand into her hair and pulled her towards him, placing a soft kiss on her lips. Small explosions popped through her stomach and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him close, melting in to him. When he broke away, he held her gaze for a moment.

"You don't need to say anything else." He gave her a small smile and turned to his own room. "You should get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow."

She nodded and opened the door, slipping into her room.

* * *

Four months had passed since the close of the case on The Wonderland Murders. No killings had followed, and the ICPO had become quite quiet after Aizawa and Ide departed back to Japan.

Morning was sat on her bed, leaning back against the wall and reflecting on the recent events. The police and media were told the killer hadn't been found, and their small investigation team had given up on the chase. This hadn't gone down too well, but, as far as the team were concerned, there was no point in stringing them along. They wouldn't believe it was an otherworldly killer who'd passed away, they'd want the evidence, and Morning wasn't willing to give it to them.

L hadn't changed, often working late into the night on a new case, assessing articles or running over notes Ryusei and Near sent down from CCTV footage. The current case involved a drug smuggling trade from London to a small city in Italy. When it had reached 2am, Morning decided to take a break and wait for him.

She shook her head, picking up the jam sandwich and taking a bite. Matsuda had squealed like a schoolgirl when he found out about their relationship.

"_I was right! Didn't I say there was something there? I told you I was right!_"

Needless to say, his reaction hadn't gone down too well with Aizawa. Or her, for that matter, and he'd left the office wearing the remnants of a chocolate ring donut.

A small bat shot through the window, causing Abraxas to squeal in protest. It circled her twice before landing on her hand and licking at the jam on her sandwich with all the desperation of a starving animal. She watched it curiously, a sense of nostalgia flaring through her body and a small smile broke across her face. She raised her free hand and gently ran a finger down its tiny back.

"You took your time." The bat's ears twitched at her voice and it turned its head to lick the jam off its claws. "Welcome to the family, Beyond."

* * *

**Sad... =( but it was a happy ending in a weird way. I do hope you liked it! And I hope it made sense.**

**I would like to thank everyone who faved, followed and reviewed this story. Despite the end of this story, it is not the end of my fanfic writing! Not yet...**

**For my followers, I would like to declare that this November for National Novel Writing Month I will be working on a comedy (based on Death Note) called 'Wammy House Horror - A Steampunk Parody' which originally started off as a joke-fic for my friends. I can guarantee outrageous laughs and lots of randomness, so keep an eye open! X3**

**As always, please R&R!**


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